


chances under the purple sunrise

by loupancake



Series: under the same sky entwined with one destiny [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Fisherman!Louis, Fluff, I was also inspired by some of my favorite mermaid stories, I was inspired by neon--diamond's comic, Kissing, M/M, also harry's prince of the atlantic ocean ndb, and finding nemo, and i researched this and that 'cause honestly marine bio is so fascinating, and listened to their sountracks, harry also sits on louis' bike to get to a cliff and louis pushes the bike for him, harry calls shoes "little boats", i might've watched the little mermaid and aquamarine while i wrote this for other inspo, liam and zayn are like mentioned tbh, lots of giggles and smiles, merman!harry, other installments will include both Harry's & Louis'!, this entire first installment is in harry's POV, this is actually just very cute so !, very slight mention of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 01:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5609443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loupancake/pseuds/loupancake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by & Based on <a href="http://neon--diamonds.tumblr.com/post/136128310335/tentatively-calling-this-if-wishes-were-fishes">Neon--Diamonds' Fanart</a><br/><em>“You’ve been taking my shoes?” Louis asked, scoffing. “I paid a lot for them!”</em> </p>
<p>  <em>“How unfortunate for you.” Harry smiled bitterly. He peeked over Louis, eyeing the hook that still had the worm. </em></p>
<p>  <em>The red box was open right next to him. Harry saw that inside, it had a couple of transparent containers that were filled with worms, too. He eyed Louis skeptically before nodding. “Right. I’ll give you your, er…. little boats back if you let me have the tub of worms.”</em></p>
<p>  <em>A groan crawled out from Louis, his head falling back and his eyes landing up at the clear sky. “I need those.”</em></p>
<p>  <em>“They’re food for myself and others, not to be used as bait.”</em></p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Or the one where Harry is a merman, prince of the Atlantic Ocean, whose curiosity and healthy envy takes over him and he steals Louis' shoes every time he fishes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	chances under the purple sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I was super inspired by [Neon--Diamonds' Fanart](http://neon--diamonds.tumblr.com/post/136128310335/tentatively-calling-this-if-wishes-were-fishes), so this is a story based on that. I've always loved merfolk so I was in love with this. And I wrote a lot for a one shot, too (I mean, in terms of how _I_ do, so I'm actually very, very, very proud of how this came out. I hope you guys like it!
> 
> _This is the **first of six** stories. The rest are all outlined already and I've got a very clear picture of where the story's going to go!_
> 
> **Lil note:** I am not from the UK and this has not been britpicked. I do my very best to research lil facts that may appear here and there. Otherwise, this is entirely a work of complete fiction. The same goes for the stories that will follow, thank you!
> 
> -
> 
> [Series Post {tumblr}](http://wlwmermald.tumblr.com/post/156720987927/under-the-same-sky-entwined-with-one-destiny)  
> [Playlist](http://wlwmermald.tumblr.com>Tumblr</a>%7C%20<a%20href=)

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

**H**

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

Troublesome behavior for a merperson wasn’t really all that troublesome to anyone else. Something considered to be troublesome or reckless to them would be if a merperson swam up to the surface, close by to the human population, and risked exposure to them entirely. Incidentally, this was the type of reckless behavior Harry Styles tried to achieve as much as possible. It wasn’t often, either, seeing as being the prince of the Atlantic Ocean was very demanding on his part, but he was void of any royal responsibilities for a whole week… which meant, of course, that reckless behavior would certainly ensue. He had to take as many opportunities as he could, didn’t he?

That was why he found himself leaning half of his body up against a low, rocky pathway that connected to a low cliff on the beach. From his upper body, he looked fairly normal, so that was the only bit he would expose himself as, while his lower half hung under him, tail swishing gently in the cool water. Even where he was, he was still pretty far away from the main sandy area where all the humans frolicked and tanned about, so he wasn’t _that_ reckless.

Harry loved to observe them. It was probably very weird, but he thought humans were fascinating. He lifted up a golden tube to his eye—a small telescope, not that he _knew_ what it was called, of course—and everything was suddenly much closer for him to see. He looked at their legs, their toes, the arches of their feet, watched as they sprinted and danced and jumped. The concept of legs and feet drew him in. He thought humans looked so very _free_ , especially when they _ran_. Humans seemed so unlimited with them. They could even go in the water and swim _fine_.

Oh, how lucky they were.

Of course, Harry didn’t mind being what he was. No, he _loved_ being a merman. It was the simple desire for something _new_ and _exciting_ that had him filled with a healthy envy. That’s what humans were to Harry—new and exciting. If he could have just one day to walk among them the way they did all the time—or _run_ —then that would certainly fill a huge void inside of him. It would satisfy his dream of a little adventure. The same old things could be mundane after a while. All Harry wanted was someone to understand that of him. Even if they couldn’t help him achieve his need of something new and exciting, if they understood it, that was more than he could ever really ask for.

But really… _what are_ **_those?_ **

Through Harry’s telescope, he set his eyes on some of his most favorite things on feet. He didn’t know what they were called, so he quietly called them _little boats._ People wore different types all the time. They were always colorful and had different designs, but they always covered feet in some way. It astonished Harry that humans actually _decorated_ their feet with these little boats. They were so intelligent. Human culture seemed so fascinating. He wished he could do the same with his own tail or _something_ like that. How cool would it be to drape something over his caudal fin as a decorative piece? It could add some spark to his tail? Okay, that  _did_ exist in the merworld, but merfolk didn't  _always_ wear them—only on very, very, very special occasions.

He studied a vibrant green pair of little boats that were thin—these were sandals, not that he knew. All he saw was that they didn’t cover the entire foot, but still cushioned the bottom. Two strands came out from either side of it and came together, hooking between some toes. Most people wore _these_ on the beach. He wondered why. They made a funny sound whenever people walked with them and oftentimes, sand got caught between their tiny toes. Sometimes, these slipped off of people’s feet on their own. They were loose to begin with, sure, but why would that happen? If they came off so easily, why do people wear them to the beach? Harry could only wonder.

He surveyed a wooden walkway on the opposite side of the beach. Instead of rocks, it was wood laid out straight above the sea, held up by wooden poles that sunk into the water. Someone had little boats that covered the entire foot. These looked comfortable. They were blue and yellow with strings that tied into a little bow. Harry had collected some of those similar in shape. The bottoms of these had different designs underneath. Harry had once pressed them into the sand underwater and for a moment, the sand was imprinted with the shape and pattern of the bottom of the little boat. It was magnificent.

Once, Harry had seen an unusual pair of little boats. They had _wheels_. These particular ones were black and pink. They had thick buckles that zig zagged under side flaps. Even from afar, they had looked bulky and heavy as the person picked up their foot and slid across the surface they were rolling on. He figured it couldn’t work so well on the sand. Harry wanted to snag one of those, too, if ever someone who had them happened to be anywhere near where Harry could grab them.

Either way, they were _beautiful._

“Wow… how lovely they are…“ Harry whispered to himself as he lowered the small telescope from his right eye. He sucked in a deep breath before letting it out in a slow, calm sigh. The smile on his face was gentle and dreamy as he lowered himself a little, disappearing and leaning against the side of the rocky pathway. “Oh, how I wish…” he mused, but shook his head slowly. He could wish and wish all he wanted, but him _ever_ getting the chance to walk, run, and wear pretty little boats on _his_ feet was simply not in the cards for him. There was no spell to achieve such a thing. The only real magical element merfolk had was the fact that if anyone helped them, they could grant the helper one single wish as long as it didn’t screw up with the forces of time, give the helper or anyone else omnipotence, or cause death to someone or themselves. Other than that, anything could be considered a wish, but merfolk couldn’t simply grant themselves wishes. It just didn’t work like that.

At the sound of singing, Harry turned his head in the direction the lovely sound seemed to be coming from. The rocky pathway attached itself to a low cliff, and on the other side of it was the start of the sandy beach. People could climb up on low rocks that scattered about near the sand to get up on the rocky pathway _if they wanted to._ This guy seemed to be one of those people. Harry quickly dipped underwater, his tail curling and sticking out of the brim before sinking in as well. He could not have people _seeing_ him. They would freak. Maybe _Harry_ would freak. It could be a mess if he exposed himself like that.

From underwater, Harry could hear the man singing despite it being muffled. His own green eyes followed the man as he came closer and closer. When his back faced Harry, Harry slowly let the top half of his head resurface to get a good look at this human before he let just his _whole_ head poke out. He liked the tune of it, whatever he was singing, and Harry subconsciously began to hum along with him. Quickly, Harry realized his mistake when the man paused in his actions and slowly started to turn around. Harry clapped his hand over his mouth and sunk back underwater just as the man turned around to look behind him. The man shrugged and looked away again.

Slowly, Harry rose his head above the water again and stared, excitement bubbling up in his chest. He admired how the man still sang quietly to himself as he lifted his left leg, the lower part bending off to the right as he removed the little boat from his foot. He did the same with his other leg and removed his other little boat. Harry watched, thinking it was so incredible to do something so effortlessly, as the man hooked his fingers at the ends of both little boats and held them together like that, with one hand, and just set them down carefully on the rocks. The man sat down himself right besides them, and Harry saw him grab a long stick that stood up against a small, red box.

It was all graceful in his eyes.

His eyes swept over the clothed back of the man before he did a double take to the _little boats._ Harry’s vibrant eyes widened, his lips parting in shock at the pair. They weren’t thin, but they weren’t bulky. They were those casual types that covered the entire foot up, the ones with the strings that tied them, the ones with the fun patterns embossed on the bottom. These were lovely to Harry. They were solid black and looked soft and cushiony. The only difference in color was the three white stripes on the side, the white strings that tied into a bow, and the bottom circumference.

He had to have them.

Harry held onto the rocks with one hand as he reached up with the other. He carefully pushed himself up a little until his fingers could grab the little boats. He held them the way the man had earlier, just from the heels, and in one swift motion, Harry pulled them down and dove back into the water with a light _splash,_ not even daring to look back to see if the man turned around, to see the man’s reaction to his missing little boats. No, they were Harry’s now.

Harry swam deeper and farther into the ocean, small bubbles trailing after his tail that moved up and down happily. His dark golden brown curls were graceful as they floated around Harry’s head, framing his sharp features as an elegant contrast. Every time Harry shot forward, his curls flew back, rippling as he swam straight ahead. His soft, musical hum of delight echoed as he passed fish and plants alike. His eyes were bright with giddy mischief, and a smile made its way onto his face.

The coral reef was to die for. Reaching it was a wonder. Everything was full of vivid color in such a natural environment. Fish swam this way and that, alone or in schools. Harry grinned at all the different shapes and sizes of coral heads that served as homes or hiding places to different types of fish and other sea creatures, even if corals were actually animals themselves. He liked it here, too, because it was prettier. The sunlight made it a gorgeous sea blue all around and illuminated the colors everywhere. Sponges and algae were also abundant due to the reef, which was perfect for…

“Little prince!” Harry paused in his swimming, his hair fanning out in front of him and then back with the soft water. He smiled warmly at the creature in front of him. “What are you _doing_ here? You’re supposed to be in your kingdom. Does Princess Gemma know?” Harry sighed as the sea turtle laid himself out on the sandy bottom, looking up at him in a slow motion. He could see that the turtle's tiny eyes were judging him.

“I was just exploring, Frank.” Harry spoke, even if, to a human, it would sound different. Merfolk were fluent in all languages and could speak to all sea creatures using their own merlanguage, too. It sounded like a soft, mystical echo laced with gentle, watery taps or clicks. As Harry hummed, it, too, echoed with a musical tone. The turtle sighed at him. “Will you please, please not tell anyone that could get the word to my sister or… worse, my parents? They’d be cross.”

“And what are _those_? _Another pair of miniature boats?!”_

Harry nodded happily despite how stern Frank was. If he could, he could imagine the turtle wagging a finger at him. “Yes, look. These ones are black and white, but these ones also have _three stripes_ on the sides, can you believe it? They’re gorgeous.” He held up the little boats for Frank to see.

The turtle looked wary as he stared down at them. “Well… well, that doesn’t excuse you for being so foolish. Heading to the surface near the _shore_ where _humans_ thrive? Are you completely mad—” but his mouth slowly fell open when sand dusted around him in a circle. “Oscar!” The turtle complained. An eye opened that seemed to blend in with the sand, and Harry laughed softly. It, too, echoed through the water. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were down here.”

“That’s the _point_ , Frank.” The flounder gruffed out. Frank floated off of him and the flounder rose up from the bottom, swimming in circles. “Where’d you go, where’d you go, where’d you go?” He complained as Frank swam up away from his possible view. Harry laughed again and shook his head.

“I’m up _here_ you blithering idiot!” Frank shouted, and Harry continued to swim forward.

“I’ll get ‘im, Harry, don’t worry. Gemma won’t find out you’ve left. I’ll cover.” Oscar the flounder said.

Harry blew a kiss to the fish from over his shoulder. He giggled once more, admiring those two silly neighbors. They were always arguing with each other. They were old and cranky. Or, well, Frank always reassured him that fifty years wasn’t actually old at all to his species, so Harry let him have that.

The kingdom that merfolk lived in was hidden from human view. Sometimes if sharks ever neared it, it was hidden from them, too. That was the other magic quality that existed (and every other merperson could certainly manipulate water in the most basic of ways), but was run from the king's magic, which differed from any normal merperson's power. It was protected by thick walls made of polished, colorful stone. They went from the bottom all the way up to the top, high enough that any intruder wouldn’t be able to just enter it without touching the brim of the ocean. The bottom had tiny window-like arches that were blocked by parallel bars for anyone to go through them. It was so small, harmless fish could pass in and out if they pleased. They weren’t _totally_ separated from everyone.

When Harry reached the walls of the kingdom, he saw the row of guards that spaced out all around the wall. Niall was one of them, and he was one of Harry’s very best friends. He covered for Harry every time he snuck out. Good ol’ Niall. As Harry neared the guard, who had his arms crossed and a long, sharp spear in one hand, he saw that Niall was fast asleep. Small bubbles flew up from the gills on both sides of his torso, and his lip trilled softly.

“Hey.” Harry whispered, clapping a hand on Niall’s shoulder lightly. The small action did it. Niall jumped awake and his spear almost fell out of his grasp. Harry caught it for him. “I’m back.”

“Alright, good. Gemma was asking about you. Told her you might be in your secret grotto.” Niall’s eyes were alight with tired mischief. Harry stared at him, fear striking in his own eyes. “I’m _kidding_. Poseidon, I’d _never_ rat you out or rat your grotto out. Don’t you know me by now?”

“Don’t scare me like that again, you prat.” Harry laughed. “That’s mean. Don’t fall asleep on the job, why would you do that?”

“Nothing is happening, what do you expect me to do?” Niall asked. “I don’t even want to be a guard. I want to be a—”

“A sponge player, I know, I know. One day. I hope it can happen. I would hate it if you were so miserable for the rest of your days if you genuinely do not like to guard. Maybe if a royal decree stating,” Harry lifted his hands up, even with the little boats still being held. “Niall Horan must be a sponge player despite what his father says. It’s his dream, not his father’s, so his father should stop being an insufferable blowfish and let Niall Horan do whatever he wants for as long as he wants.”

Niall laughed out loud, his shoulders shaking and a hand flying to his mouth. Harry’s tail swished underneath him frantically and he covered one hand over Niall’s “I’m sorry,” Niall giggled, though his apology was muffled. They pulled their hands down from his mouth. Both of them were equally smiling. “That was just—yeah I’d love if you could do that, actually.”

“Then I get a wish?” Harry asked.

“Oh shut up, you’re filthy rich and are the prince, destined to be _king_ of the Atlantic Ocean—which means _powers_ later. Not the basic water stuff. You don’t need a wish. You’ve got it all.” Harry smiled softly at him. Niall gently poked Harry with the spear against the skin of his abdomen. “Now, get back in there or so help me. Covering for you is getting so stressful. Liam’s getting suspicious about it all, too.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I love him, but honestly, he’s… always on my caudal fin about knowing where I am every second of the day. I’m shocked he hasn’t badgered you about it.”

Niall shrugged, looking up. “He might’ve. I just mentioned that Gemma did.”

“ _Niall_!” Harry exclaimed. “Don’t be like that, oh—he’s going to be so mad me.” He grimaced, but then shrugged. “Oh well. It’s all clear?” Niall nodded and Harry ruffled Niall’s soft, swaying blond hair. “Later, then.” With that, Harry swam down along the wall all the way to the bottom. When he reached the arch that peeked into the kingdom, Harry set the little boats down and grabbed one of the bars. He grunted and used all his strength to pull it out. When he did, he set it down and did the same to the other bars until there was enough room for Harry to swim through it. He took the little boats and swam in, but turned back to stick the bars back in place so it looked like no one had moved them.

It looked like a tiny prison window.

Harry sighed, turning around to face the kingdom before him. Small shelter created from sponge and coral littered the kingdom. Some had dome shaped roofs with oval openings as windows on top of them, some didn’t. Some were perfect spheres that had a deep indent for a merperson or two to sleep in. Some were larger than others, some were half created but still served as homes for merfolk. Some had impossibly large clams that opened and closed as beds for merfolk. Some merfolk had secret grottos—like Harry—where they slept in instead.

Then, in the heart of it all was the castle. Built from coral, too, this was a magnificent creation that had taken thousands of years to create since coral grew so slow. Not to mention, royals from time past have helped mold the growing of separate rooms, too—all with the help of a king's power from his scepter. It was such a high quality building, large and simply too much for Harry’s liking, but there he lived. There was a walkway of shells that led up to to the entrance of the castle. Coral pillars lined up the outskirts of it, and Harry had absolutely no intention of heading in there yet.

He swam over smaller clams that had merfolk sitting in them with coral tables full of things they were selling. Pearl necklaces, starfish earrings, different pigmentation for tails, different types of scales like ctenoids, cycloids, ganoids, and placoids. They could also be pigmented in any way someone wanted by the help of small cephalopods and could be fitted onto tails. They served as different looks depending on what someone liked. Some also sold the best types of seaweed, algae, and kelp. Others sold shells that could serve for necklace pendants. There were also clam shops that had hair services. Small cephalopods helped with hair colors as well.

Harry made his way over to an undersea gorge. It was mostly empty and a little darker, but Harry knew where he was going. Swimming in between pieces of solid rock that made different shapes and served as other rocky surfaces, he saw it at the bottom. It looked like an undersea cliff with a huge, circular rock randomly lying in front of it. Harry knew better. He swam over to the circular rock and moved it aside. It revealed Harry’s grotto. No one knew it was here. He entered it and pulled the rock back in front of the opening.

The grotto was tiny in width, but it reached all the way up where sun shined into it. It illuminated the rocky shelves of all the trinkets Harry had managed to snag throughout the years of exploration he should’ve never done. The bottom shelves included the little boats. Here was a pair he found that were pointed and shiny. The heel part had a very long end. A woman had worn these. He had found another pair that were large and clunky with rough strings to tie them up. They went up a little past the ankles and looked warm to wear, but Harry wasn’t a fan of the brown shade of them.

He set his newest addition beside the pointed, glossy ones and rested himself on his stomach on the sand. His elbows were bent, his hands cupping the sides of his face dreamily as he looked at the black and white little boats. Harry sighed out through his mouth, bubbles passing from his parted lips. “One day…” he whispered to himself. “maybe, just maybe.”

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ 

The next day, Harry managed to sneak out of the kingdom once more, though a bit later than the day before. It wasn’t his fault. Actually, Harry was filled with a need to escape more than yesterday. Gemma was visited by suitors from other oceans and Harry was only reminded that she would marry into another house and leave him. He loved his sister a lot. His mother and father then reminded him of the stress that he, too, would have to join a house one of these days if he was to be the next king of the Atlantic Ocean—even though, at some point, they'd agreed Harry could marry for love. He wondered where _that_ promise went and why they didn't keep it anymore. These were things he did not want to deal with. Harry couldn’t care less about those obligations— _especially_ ones that talked about his future spouse, whoever they might be.  

Harry peeked out through his little golden tube and observed everyone today. For the most part, he realized there were new faces on the beach every day. He hummed to himself and set his right eye on a particular set of little boats—bright blue and black—that had the strings tied _around the ankles_.

_How strange. Why would anyone do that?_ Even more bizarre, the other one that matched it on the other foot had _no strings at all_. Where did they go? Harry looked around the teenaged boy, only to see, with a small giggle from Harry, that the strings that should’ve been on the little boat were actually tied around the waist of the… the… Harry didn’t know what those were, either. They were a deep indigo and looked rough. They were skinny and fit around the boy’s hips and legs. He also wondered why the boy would wear those on a day as warm as today. The string, Harry noticed, was weaved into loops at the waist and tied in the middle of his front.

He was sure he’d seen thicker buckles around those. Was the string supposed to be an alternative? That only had Harry giggling more.

Today was a day that there was human music playing from somewhere. No one was singing or playing an instrument, but he could hear it from _somewhere_. A group of people hurried to the water deep enough until it lapped around their middles. A woman stood in front of the group and started to do some sort of dance. Everyone in front of her copied it. Harry realized that they were dancing to the music, but in the water so it worked out a little better.

They were so creative.

His head tilted from side to side to the beat of the song, his tail lightly swishing against the water underneath him. Harry heard something scraping the rocks, and he looked around. His eyes widened and he ducked into the water quickly. It was that man! The same one from yesterday. He walked along the low, rocky pathway again until he was closer, then a bit farther from where Harry was looking up at him. Harry noticed his mouth was in the shape of an O and it softly pushed out every few seconds. What was he doing?

When the man turned around so his back was to Harry again, Harry rose his head up from the water. He heard some sound. It was high and sounded like the wind should be making it if it _could_ make a sound other than its harsh gust. Harry couldn’t even think of how to describe it. He listened intently, leaning his back flat against the rock on his side and looking up with concentration. The sound moved up and down in pitch, sometimes went on for longer beats or shorter, choppier ones. What _was_ that sound?

Carefully, Harry turned around and raised his head a little to make sure it was clear for him. He pulled himself up a tiny bit with his arms and leaned over to the right to get a good look at the man’s face without the man seeing him. The sound came out from his mouth, and whenever it broke into another one. It was like singing, but not at all. Harry knew no one in the world who could create such a high, piercing sound with _breath_.

He pulled his upper body back so it was more parallel to the man’s back. He did a double take to the objects the man had brought again. It was the same red box, the same long stick, and—

Harry’s eyes widened down at the little boats he’d brought _this time._ These were so interesting that Harry almost fell into the water at how lovely they were. These were a soft grey with white underneath. It didn’t have any strings to tie them up, but they covered the foot up pretty nicely. Maybe a tiny bit of skin would show a third of the way down the top of his foot. They were thin and had a pretty design on the _inside_ walls of the shoes.

Harry had to have these, too.

He snagged them and dipped under the water as fast as he could, a splash following after his elegant tail. Like yesterday, Harry didn’t look back, but he peered down inside of one of the shoes. “Toms…?” He whispered to himself. He didn’t know what the small, circled R was right besides the S of the word TOMS, but he smiled at the words underneath. “ _With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for one._ ”

What were shoes? Humans were funny. He didn’t know what that meant, but if buying something meant someone else in need could get something free, then that was a nice concept. As Harry swam off towards the kingdom and towards his secret grotto, he wondered what other nice things humans did for one another.   

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

Harry returned the day after again.

He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t waiting for the man to show up again. He hoped he would. He hoped that he was okay without his little boats on his feet. A part of him felt terrible. It was selfish of him, wasn’t it? His curiosity and gentle envy drove him to take them. That was probably really unhealthy in some aspect even if it wasn't hurting anybody. Even though he knew he would never be able to enjoy human things properly, keeping them close to himself made it all better in some strange way.

Lucky for Harry, he returned. He was singing something again today. Harry loved, loved, loved the voice that was carried through the air over to his ears. He hadn’t really paid attention to the way the man’s soft, high, raspy voice sang the tune. He’d heard humans speak, sure, and Harry had spoken like a human before himself, but he’d never until the other day and today really heard them sing. He wondered how the vibrato of the voice passed through his lips in such a blissful, calm harmony. It was so pretty to him. Harry nearly sunk against his side of the rocks, almost all the way down until just his eyes were above the water and the rest of him was submerged.

_“...my lover stands on golden sands and watches the ships that go sailing._ ” Harry’s eyebrows pinched together, his eyes gentle and soft as he saw the red box rested on the rocks and the long stick leaning against it. He waited for what the man would have today for him to admire, and when the bottoms of the shoes peeked over the edge of the rocks, Harry pressed his lips together.

From where he was, he was perfectly under the man’s little boats. This would be easy. He barely rose out of the water before his hands reached up and clasped around the tops of each little boat, but something had Harry pulling his hands back frantically. They were _full_.

“OI!” He heard, the singing stopping abruptly.

Harry leaned his back up to get a better look at the top of the rocks and saw that _the man was facing his side of the rocks._ He was sitting and hadn’t taken his little boats off today.

_Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!_

Harry ducked himself under the water as quickly as he could as the man leaned forward to look down. He lowered himself all the way down until his scaley bum touched the sand. Harry’s heart was pounding in his ears in fear. Had the man seen him? Oh, he should’ve been more careful. Of course the man would get suspicious and stop being consistent. Harry covered his face, lowering his body flat against the sand with his hair falling around his head gracefully.

He should leave. He shouldn’t ever come back. Harry supposed the day would come that he would get caught, and it looked like that day was inevitably today.

Harry couldn’t move. He was so scared. The shout from the man, the unexpected fullness of the little boats that told Harry that the man hadn’t taken them off of his feet had him completely frozen in fear against the shallow sand. Even his tail wasn’t relaxed and wavy. All the way down to his caudal fin, it was straight out and flat. Harry was happy that the man wouldn’t be able to see him from all the way down here. Even if the bottom was shallow—though not as shallow for humans to swim at—it wasn’t as deep as the reef and where the kingdom was. This was nothing.

This was too much, actually.

A jolt went through Harry when he heard something. It was muffled from him being underwater, which meant that the man was _speaking_. Harry’s hands shook and he dragged them down his face before he hugged himself tightly. This was so _bad_. He could hear small critters whispering at him, wondering what was wrong, could feel a tiny, bright colored [cleaner fish](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/images/090820-cleaner-fish_big.jpg) latch onto his tail, moving around it quickly, and squeak out, “You’re tense! What’s wrong?” before he cleaned Harry’s tail. It was like a little massage with a small tickle, Harry’s caudal fin curled up elegantly and then back down, repeating the motion gently.

“Human.” Harry hummed when he found his voice.

The fish suddenly disappeared so fast that Harry whimpered quietly. He knew sea creatures had good reason to fear humans. Sometimes, they actually took fish from the sea and were never seen again. It was a myth to know _where_ they went, but there have been times that fish have escaped human clutches and returned to their homes and environment hurt. Harry had to leave or maybe something terrible would end up happening to him, too.

Harry rolled his upper body up to sit and made to swim away, but paused at the sound of the something falling into the water. Looking up, he saw that the calmness of the brim was interrupted by something that floated and bobbed gently, circular ripples surrounding it. Harry tilted his head at the object, but his eyes widened in excitement at the worm. It was a _worm_! Of _course._ He wondered how it got there. Harry hummed softly, the sound echoing quietly as he carefully swam up so he was under the bobbing thing with the worm on it.

His hand reached up to grab the worm, but it wasn’t easily taken. It looked stuck, so Harry swam a little higher, shaking his head so his graceful curls fell out of the way from his sight. He frowned, tilting his head as he used both hands to free the worm, pulling down carefully, but then the object yanked _up_. The sharp tip of the hook then pricked at Harry’s finger in the process. “Ow.” He hissed,  popping the pad of his index finger into his mouth as it bled slowly.

The bobbing object with the worm that was on the hook was sliding away, interrupting the brim of the water even more. It was going towards the rocks, and Harry’s eyes followed it until it disappeared, lifting up into the air. Harry heard a muffled sound again from the man. Instead of raising his head above the water, Harry lifted his hand so the man could see it. Harry snapped his fingers, his eyes trained up on the rippled image of the man, and he saw the man speaking and looking towards his hand. Harry motioned for him to bring back the worm with his finger curling inwards in a come-hither motion. The man didn’t do anything.

Huffing, Harry swam up even more so his face was just under the top of the water. He could see the man clearer now, and he pulled his hand down. The man leaned forward and Harry saw an incredible pair of sea blue-green eyes staring down at him. They widened in fear, and Harry’s tail glistened from the shining, gradient scales that went from shades of green to blue to yellow and to purple. It sometimes did that when Harry was scared. His heart was thudding against his chest again as Harry looked up from under the water and the man just looked down, his lips parted in shocked.

Harry’s tail curved backwards, his caudal fin lifting up into the air, folding and curling softly as Harry willed it. The man’s eyes lifted away from Harry and his eyes widened even more. Harry saw his lower lip quivering in fear. The hand that gripped the long stick shook as well as his other hand that flew to his mouth. Was he really _afraid_? Harry didn’t like that. The man had nothing to be worried about. After all, _Harry_ was the one who was afraid.

Not wanting the man to be scared, Harry brought his face out of the water, his hair falling back after the locks had danced around his face for such a few long minutes. The man jumped with a yelp and pushed himself backwards, but almost fell on the other side. Harry reached forward quickly to grab the man’s wrist and pull him back before he _did_ fall. When the man balanced himself once more, Harry let go of his wrist and spoke—or, at least, he did in his own language, with the soft, watery, echoey clicks and hums filling the cool air around them.

“W-what?” The man asked, his chest rising and lowering in quick pants. “A-are… are you, like, s-speaking to me?”

_Oh, yeah. Human._ The strange sounds quieted and Harry rested against the rocks with his forearms up on them. He looked over at the terrified man. “Right. Human. English.” Harry voiced. He hadn’t heard his own voice speak human english in ages, and the sound had him blinking in amusement. “Is that my voice?” Harry asked, laughing lowly. “Is that  _my_ voice?”

The man softly whimpered, looking overwhelmed, and Harry’s smile faded. Maybe he should go. Harry went back and forth with this option in silence before settling on leaving before the man huffed a small, frightened scoff of disbelief. “Y-y… you’re…” Harry’s eyebrows rose a little. The man clamped his mouth shut. “You’re… a….” He swallowed hard. “a…” Harry’s tail made an appearance again, an equivalent of someone’s legs bending up as they lay flat on their stomach, though Harry’s tail was much more lithe than legs. The man’s mouth open and closed, making Harry giggle and lower half of his face behind his folded arms. He looked like a fish. The man’s eyebrows quirked at the small laugh. “M-merm-man…?”

Harry nodded against his arms, a small smile tugging at his lips.

The man sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, but shakily. He was silent for a long time, so Harry was silent as well. It gave Harry a better chance to actually look at this man better. His hair was dry and fluffy, piecey from being tousled. His eyes were genuinely both shades of blue and green. They reminded Harry of the gradient-like colors of a [ reef chromis fish](http://www.reeftime.com/profile-images/blue-green-chromis.jpg). He had high cheekbones and a strong jaw that was dusted by scruff. Harry’s eyes flew up to his hair again, thinking it was fascinating to see a human _this close_ , observe them, even. The light wind seemed to move the hair in the tiniest of manners. It looked so soft.

“I apologize.” Harry said after a while. “For, you know, frightening  you. It wasn’t my intention.” His eyes were soft as they tried to meet the man’s still terrified gaze. The man blinked a little, each time looking just a _little_ calmer even if his chest was still expanding from breathing so much. Suddenly, he started _laughing_ , which caught Harry by surprise. It sounded nervous and anxious, and the man scooted closer, crisscrossing his legs and covering his mouth to stifle the laugh. “What’s so funny?”

The man shrugged, lowering his hands and slapping them on his thighs. “I—this… you? You’re… I—this is... “ His eyes looked at Harry from the top of his head, lingering on his face, and then down to where his abdomen disappeared into the water, but his eyes looked behind Harry to the fin that swished left and right. A serious, yet perplexing expression crossed the man’s face as he looked down at Harry. “You’re real?”

Harry smiled without showing his teeth, a large grin that had his dimples on display, and he hummed happily in response. Using his arms, Harry pulled himself up to sit besides the man—who jumped and whispered, “Jesus… Christ.” to himself—and Harry studied him carefully. He got a look at the little boats on the man’s feet again. These were so _incredible_ , so vibrant with color. It looked like a man in red was fighting, with word bubbles scattered over the little boat’s design. Other instances of the man in different poses were on the top and sides, and Harry smiled. 

“What is your name?” Harry asked, looking at him once more, meeting his eyes excitedly. “My name’s Harry.”

The man swallowed hard, biting his lip before answering warily. “Louis… it’s Louis.”

“Louis.” Harry voiced, liking how it rolled off his tongue. He laughed quietly with a light hum, his eyes trailing up to Louis’ hair. Now that he was closer to him, his hair looked impossibly fluffier and softer. He lifted his hands up to touch his hair, his eyes lighting up immediately at how silky and smooth it felt against his fingers. “Wow…” he whispered, carding his hand through Louis' hair, messing it up.

“Stop. Hey—stop that.” Louis let out a frustrated breath with annoyance flashing in his piercing eyes. “Will you stop it?! Cut that out, enough!” He smacked Harry’s hands and immediately, Harry pulled them back with a shy look, peering down at his swishing tail. His scales glistened with the overwhelming embarrassment. “Do you… not have about any sense of personal space down there or something?” Louis snapped. Harry sucked in his bottom lip between his teeth nervously, hunching up his shoulders in a shrug. His eyes peeked over at Louis apologetically, and Louis sighed softly, running a hand down the length of his face before resting his chin in his palm.

“I just—excuse me.” Harry spoke, sitting up straighter. “I don’t exactly, like—I mean, you’re fascinating.” Louis blinked, annoyance shifting into confusion in one second. “It’s not like I’ve ever seen a human this close before… in my _entire_ life, let alone… speak to them, or sit besides them.”

Louis’ gaze softened and he shrugged with his eyebrows, huffing a very light scoff. He seemed much calmer now. “Yeah, I could say the same about… mermen, mermaids, anything of the sort.”

“‘Thing’?” Harry questioned.

“Sorry, I mean—no, I mean.” Louis groaned. “Anyone, I’m sorry, I didn’t… think you guys exactly… _existed_ , alright? I’m still getting used to it. It’s only been minutes, mate, give me some time to adjust, yeah?” Harry nodded understandingly. “You seem alright, though—curious, I guess, what with the hair and the personal space—”

“Sorry.” Harry said quickly.

Louis tilted his head with a small smile. “It’s alright. I think.” He chuckled. “But you see what I mean? You’re not really freaking out as much as me.”

“Well,” Harry clasped his hands together. “I guess it’s because I know your species exists. I kind of see them—you guys—every now and then—this week more than most, I’ve got free time. You’re all really very interesting. And if you thought we didn’t exist, then I guess that’s why you’re so shocked.”

Louis laughed quietly. “I guess, yeah. Er—I don’t know how to exactly take that but, thank you…?” Harry flashed a smile at him. “For… finding me interesting, I guess. I mean…” his voice trailed off and he looked down at Harry. Harry kept his eyes on Louis’ as they made their way down his body, then up to the end of his tail that stuck up. Harry splashed it lightly. He watched Louis take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, his eyes gentler now. “Well… I suppose it’s needless to say you’re interesting, too?”

“I am?” Harry questioned. “No, I er… I guess it makes sense, yeah. Thank you.” He looked to the stick in Louis’ hand and pointed. “What is that?”

Louis pressed his lips together and looked down at it. “Er… it…” He sighed. “It’s a, er, fishing… pole…” Harry’s eyebrows quirked curiously. “Like… I use this… to catch fish.” Harry leaned his body from Louis very slightly, confusion and a twinge of fear rising in his chest.

“Why?”

He sighed and looked at Harry apologetically, his eyes screaming with sincerity. “I… I’m sorry, I think you won’t like this, erm... “ he paused for a moment. “I bring them home and cook them for food.”

Harry gasped, his hands flying to cover his mouth. The fish hiding away made sense. The fact that sometimes they disappeared and never came back from humans made sense. It was a horrifying conclusion, but it _made sense._ Humans _fished_ them out and ate them. They _killed_ fish. “What—you….” Harry huffed angrily as he pulled his hands down, resting them on his lap. He sat up straighter again, fixing his angry eyes at Louis. “You’re a monster, you— _fish killer_.”

“Alright,” Louis set his fishing pole down on his other side, his voice taking on a slightly irked tone. “I’m sorry, if I could leave the fish alone, I would. Everyone does it, have for years. If you know about us existing, don’t you know that we _fish_?”

“Honestly, we always wondered why we were warned about humans for ages. We just kept away and stuff, sometimes suddenly stopped seeing fish all of a sudden. Sometimes we would see them lowering _nets_ into the water—you humans—and sometimes we’d see you guys diving into the middle of our oceans, sure, but… I mean, now I know _why_.” Harry crossed his arms over his broad chest. “ _Fish killer_.” He hissed, his voice melding with his own language and echoing dangerously.

Louis held his hands up defensively. “Calm down, you—and stop calling me that!”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Fish killers shouldn’t have such nice little boats, it’s not fair.”

Blinking, Louis looked confusedly at Harry. “What—? I don’t have a little boat? What are you talking about?” He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply. “Forget it.” His eyes opened again. “I said I’m sorry. I mean it, you know?”

In addition to Harry’s calmed anger—or, what was calm for him—his caudal fin sunk into the water and lifted up beside the rock quickly, smacking Louis’ feet wetly before splashing back into the water. Harry’s eyes widened, his eyebrows raising for a moment as he cast his eyes down at Louis’ little boats. “Then what do you call those? I’m not _blind_ , you know.”

Louis’ eyes narrowed. He pointed down at his feet. “You mean shoes?”

_Oh._ Shoes. Harry’s upper lip snarled lightly. He didn’t like the word. He liked little boats much better. “I guess. Whatever. If you think you’re gonna get your ‘ _shoes_ ’," Harry lifted his hands up and folded his index and middle fingers down as air quotes. "back now, then think again, fish killer.”

“You’ve been taking my shoes?” Louis asked, scoffing. “I paid a lot for them!”

“How unfortunate for you.” Harry smiled bitterly. He peeked over Louis, eyeing the hook that still had the worm. The red box was open right next to him. Harry saw that inside, it had a couple of transparent containers that were _filled_ with worms, too. He eyed Louis skeptically before nodding. “Right. I’ll give you your, er…. _little boats_ back if you let me have the tub of worms.”

A groan crawled out from Louis, his head falling back and his eyes landing up at the clear sky. “I need those.”

“They’re food for myself and others, not to be used as bait.”

Louis’ hands pressed on the rocks behind him. He leaned his weight on them as he looked back at Harry, looking pensive. His lips pressed together tightly and Harry swished his tail lazily. With an exhale, Louis nodded. “Fine.” He agreed, shrugging and sitting up straight. He pulled the tub out. “You promise? You promise you’ll be back here and get me the shoes? I’ve apologized.”

“Your apology means nothing.” Harry told him quietly. “You’ll still do it, won’t you?”

Tilting his head tiredly, Louis’ eyes bore into Harry’s pleadingly. “I would _love_ to stop if I could, it’s not that simple.”

Harry rolled his eyes and snatched the tub from him. “Right, I’ll come back with your stupid boats.” Louis opened his mouth to speak, but Harry cut him off before he could. “I’m not calling them shoes, that’s not as fun. Leave me be.” _What a shame_ , Harry thought as Louis raised his hands up defensively once more. _He seemed so kind, but he’s a killer._ Although, well, he supposed that if Louis did wish he didn’t have to do this, it made it a _tiny_ bit better, but not really at the same time. Harry softened his glare. “I promise I’ll be back with them, but later. It’s not easy to escape out of the kingdom.” He stretched his arms out in front of him and dove into the water, splashing Louis in the process.

“Wait!” Harry just barely heard Louis before he sunk down. Harry huffed, bubbles floating from his parted lips as he stuck his head out. His eyebrows rose annoyedly as if to say _what?_ “What do you mean? Kingdom? What time should I come back?” Louis had gotten on all fours and leaned over the edge of the rocks.

“Kingdom. You’re talking to a prince, you know.” Louis’ eyes widened, a soft, disbelieving scoff escaping him. That made Harry smile a little despite the anger he held for Louis’ murderous acts on his brethren. “Prince of the Atlantic Ocean, both the North and South. Soon to be king. One day. You should actually address me properly. After all, you are a fish killer. It’s only fair.” Now Harry was playing with him. Louis seemed to know, too, since a small smirk crossed his lips.

“Your Grace.” Louis voiced. Harry shook his head. "Your... Highness?" nodded approvingly. “What time? An hour? Two?”

Harry frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He looked up to the right in thought before deciding on a time of day. “Nighttime, when the beach there, behind you, right? When that’s entirely vacant of people. I don’t want to have to worry about exposing myself just to get you your little boats.”

Louis smiled down at him, looking thoughtful for a moment. “We can talk again, yeah? When you come back?” Harry tilted his head, trying to feign disinterest. “Don’t call me that, please? Fish killer—makes me feel terrible. My friend, Zayn, already lectures me about it. Anyways, gotta make it up to you somehow, yeah? I _am_ sorry.” Harry smiled again. The small effort from Louis was sincere, he could tell. It radiated off of him, was evident in his eyes. “You’re just fucking with me, you’re not that mad.” He laughed.

“Don’t make me slap you again.” Harry jokingly snapped. Louis’ eyes crinkled at the sides as he smiled. Harry sucked in a breath. “And I am mad. Of course I’m mad. But I can tell you’re being genuine, so I can’t be mad about that, can I?”

Louis lowered himself onto his stomach, his forearms folded over each other under his chin. “But I can’t blame you for being upset, can I?” Harry shrugged, seeming careless before he ducked down. He heard Louis’ voice muffled from above, so Harry stuck his head out again. “Also, I don’t know if you, like, call me fish killer because you forgot, but my name’s actually Louis.”

“Louis the fish killer.” The fingers of Harry’s free hand underwater curled up in a fast motion. A tiny burst of water formed in front of Harry and crashed into the rocks, soaking Louis entirely. Louis was drenched, sputtering and shivering from how cold it was. His sea eyes looked at Harry with a mischievous glare as he shook his head and pulled his dripping hair back. “I feel better now.”

“I’m gonna get you for that.” Louis' voice was filled with soft, but amused menace.

“Why?” Harry laughed. “Wet’s a good look on you.” With that, Harry disappeared and swam away before Louis could say anything else. He still quietly laughed to himself, but it echoed musically around him. Harry’s hair rippled behind him as he kicked forward in an excited speed, his arms shot back with his hand holding the tub of worms tightly. He made his way through the familiar reef, passing through until he was met with an awake Niall at the kingdom’s surrounding walls.

Harry swam up to him and held out the tub of worms. “Look what I’ve got.” He said happily, in his merspeaking way, smiling so much that his dimples appeared.

Niall’s eyes widened and he took the tub from him. “ _Shut up_.” His mouth fell open and he twisted the cap of the tub off, snagging a couple of the worms and stuffing them into his mouth. He moaned at the taste and nodded. “Yeah, that’s good stuff…” He closed the tub again and looked at the front of it. “Where’d you get this from?”

“The human with the nice little boats—did you know they’re actually called shoes? I don’t like it—”

“You _spoke_ to him?” Niall asked, his eyebrows raising. “A _human?_ You literally spoke to a human, you—he gave you this?” Harry nodded, softly humming contently. “Holy—how, what was it like?”

Harry shrugged. “It was… alright. I don’t know? It was quite… well, I found something out about him I didn’t like, but he seemed really, like, nice. Seems like he could have a good sense of humor from what I could tell.” The mischievous eyes gave that away. Maybe he was funny with those he was close to, maybe not, he didn’t know, but Louis seemed like a good person all the same. Harry bunched his shoulders up gleefully. “I don’t know, it was something new. Don’t tell anyone, obviously.”

“Obviously… I’ve got your back, but are you going to see him again?”

“I have to return his little boats later, yeah.” Niall pressed his lips together, looking unsure. “It’s okay. I’ll just go and come back at nighttime. Can you distract Liam when it’s dark so I can get out?” Niall made a wary sound, tilting his head and grimacing lightly. “Pleeease? I’ll let you have more than half of these worms.” He sang, tapping his fingers on the tub.

“Deal.” It was immediate. Niall beamed at Harry, but it faded quickly. “Just don’t get hurt or something, alright? You never know with humans… they, like, take fish away.” Harry’s smile disappeared. Louis was a part of that problem. Now he knew it. He also knew it wasn’t just taking fish away, either. A shiver ran down his spine just thinking about it.

“I know. I’ll… I’m just going to return his little boats. It’ll be okay.” Harry could feel it in his gut. Even if Louis did fish, he could feel that he would be fine for just a simple mission. Harry giggled and swam down towards the arched opening at the bottom.

“Wait!” Niall called. “Don’t you want your worms?”

Harry peered up the huge wall as he pulled out one of the bars. “I’ve decided to let you have the entire tub. My treat!”

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

When Harry arrived at the rocks, he honestly wondered how he got away. He had whined at Liam to let him out, but he guarded Harry’s bedroom doorway intensely. That was, of course, until Niall had swam up to him with "urgent business" on some foreign merfolk asking for permission to enter. Liam had gone off with him immediately. He supposed Niall would’ve just said that the merfolk must’ve left due to impatience once they got outside of the walls and saw no one there. Harry was so happy and lucky to have Niall as a friend.

Louis was lying flat along the rocks with his arms folded behind his head. The crescent moon was very bright in the dark sky. Stars were scattered across it. When Harry lifted his head out of the water slowly, he looked up at the sky for a moment to admire how beautiful it was. It was sad that most merfolk didn’t get to see this wonder. There was a whole other world just above them that was beautiful and no one dared to rise up above the waters just to see it.

With a sigh, Harry drew closer to the rocks and used his arms to bring himself up. “Hello.” Harry spoke, and Louis jumped. He exhaled and laughed quietly before rubbing the heels of his palms to his eyes. Harry set the two pairs of little boats up on the rocks as he leaned up on them with his forearms. “There you go, then.”

Sitting up, Louis grinned down at Harry. “Oh, thank you so much.” He took both pairs and grimaced. “Very wet.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed. “Well, what’d you expect?” Louis shot him a playful glare before he redirected his attention to his wet little boats. “We good, then?” He asked, feeling just a tiny bit sad to let go of these lovely little boats.

“Yeah. Yeah, thank you.” Louis nodded over at him, giving Harry a small smile. Harry returned it and turned from Louis. He ducked into the water. His tail had a slight glow to it all the time, but at night, it was much more noticeable. The shines of the scales also added to the light that came from it. It was a good way for Harry to maneuver at night.

The second Harry was about to kick off on his way home, he heard Louis’ muffled voice. Harry rose out of the water again, pulling his hair out of his face and shaking it lightly. “Sorry? I didn’t quite catch that.”

Even in the dark, with the light given from the moon and stars, Harry could see how vibrant Louis’ eyes were. They were soft and curious as they met Harry’s. “I was just wondering, erm…” he shrugged, setting his little boats beside him on the rocks, making sure they wouldn’t fall. “why, er, did you do it?” Harry’s eyebrows knit together at the question. “I mean—yeah, why did you take my shoes?”

Harry’s mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out for a few seconds. He hadn’t expected the question, and yet maybe he should’ve. “Oh,” he began, then shrugged. “It’s stupid, really.” He shook his head with a scrunch of his nose. Louis shook his head and patted the empty space besides him. Harry looked out to the vast sea that disappeared into the horizon. _Oh, fuck it._ Smiling, Harry rose up even more and lifted himself up onto the rocks with his arms.

“Now, tell me why, if you please.” Louis said, his calm demeanor reflecting in his smile.

“I wasn’t lying, you know? I do, I genuinely, like… I find humans really fascinating.” Harry began, his hands clasped together and resting on his lap. He cast his eyes down for a moment before looking up towards the nighttime horizon. “I, er—you, you guys always look really… free. I see you guys wearing… different things all the time. They’re always… unique, I feel like? Different colors and different… patterns, I suppose. It’s really, really nice. I think you guys must be really creative to be able to make those pretty things to wear… and little b—shoes,” Harry let out a breath of a laugh. “they’re… they are what go on feet and legs… you guys do so much with them, you’re not as limited as we are. You guys are… really very free when it comes to movement. When you guys… _run_? It’s… I’m so—it looks like you guys will never stop. Like, I feel like… when you guys are running you’re the most happiest and it’s always accompanied by laughter here, like it’s the happiest thing you guys can do with your legs. And you wear these lovely things while you do it. I mean, I can… I can only imagine what it’s like, right? So… so I’ve been sort of stealing shoes when I can.” Harry smiled embarrassedly. “It’s—like I can admire them on my own and stuff, sort of wonder what it’d be like to wear them and run in them. I doubt, you know, my imagination will ever compare or anything, but… it’s the closest I’ll ever get, probably.”

Louis looked at Harry despite Harry not looking at him. He met his eyes as much as he could, but didn’t chase them. Instead, when Harry looked over at Louis when he was done speaking, Harry was shocked to see how intensely he was looking at him, serious and devoted, seeming to cling onto every word that fell from Harry’s lips. Harry lowered his eyes from Louis shyly. He’d just said probably the silliest thing in the entire world.

He sucked in a deep breath, reaching up to run his hand through his hair, shaking it lightly. “Anyways,” He laughed, quiet but anxious. “Told you it was stupid.”

“It’s not.” Louis voiced quietly. Harry lifted his head up at that, eyes wide. “Yeah, no, of course it’s not. It’s completely valid for you to believe in such a thing. I mean… you know, I’d… been thinking, y’know, how you guys in turn must be so free to be able to, like, swim underwater all you want, go deep and deep and have no problem breathing. I mean, maybe you understand other sea creatures, too?” He paused, a questioning look on his face. Harry nodded with a hum, confirming that he did, indeed, communicate with other sea critters. “Yeah, see?” Louis lifted a hand towards Harry and lowered it. “And uh… I dunno, I dunno, it seems really nice in my head, how that must all go about. So I…it’s not stupid at all.”

“Do you like to swim?” Harry asked, his tail swaying beneath him in the water slowly, but happily.

Louis’ gentle smile appeared again. “Yeah, yeah I love it. Don’t do it a lot, don’t got lots of free time but I do, yeah.”

“No free time?” Harry frowned. “Why’s that?”

When Louis exhaled, his lips were scarcely open, so they did a lip trill that made Harry giggle. “Er—it’s not that funny! Come off it.” He laughed softly before composing himself into complete seriousness. “Me mum, yeah? She’s a single mum, dad died some years ago. We’ve got a big family, got, ah… six siblings. All younger, too. Lottie’s seventeen, the oldest out of _them_ , so she’s six years younger than me.” Harry’s eyes widened. That _was_ a big family. Louis nodded with a grimace. “Yeah, lots. So, right, my dad owned this seafood restaurant—”

Harry covered his mouth in shock again with both hands. “Oh _no_ , no, no, _nooo_ , they don’t actually have _restaurants_ for fish—what’s the matter with you all?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Louis voice was barely a whisper, but Harry heard it. He looked so sad at the mention of it. Harry breathed warm air into his palms. “You’re alright? I promise—I mean, you’ll understand why I’ve got to do this sort of thing now, yeah?” Harry nodded towards him, urging for him to continue. Louis paused for a moment, eyeing Harry as if he were afraid he would act up or something. Harry, in turn, felt like he was going to burst from the idea that fish were a type of food category that deserved a _restaurant_ that specialized in it. It sounded like something out of someone’s wildest nightmares come to life. “Dad died. So… so he left the restaurant to me mum and me and we’ve been at it ever since. The reality is that we don’t really want to do this forever?” Harry lowered his hands slowly, leaning forward in interest. “Mum’s got the schooling to be a _vet_ —someone who heals animals. You think she really wants to work at a restaurant that serves fish? Fat chance. I didn’t complete school because I’ve got a job now, yeah, and… and yeah, the thing is that we still do this because it’s kind of… like we feel like we owe it to dad. Like it’d be some shitty insult to his memory if we don’t continue with the restaurant.” Louis shrugged, his lips quirking as he threw his hands up as if to say _oh well, it is what it is._

Silence filled the air between them save for soft sighs of the mostly still water that surrounded them. Harry turned over what Louis had said in his head. A vet. A doctor for animals. That meant that it didn’t add up that Louis’ mother would genuinely like to run a restaurant that cooked animals as food, right? Maybe not, maybe she could like the food’s taste or something, but maybe it was because she wanted to be a vet that she preferred it over killing and cooking fish any day. Harry felt biased, though. He didn’t know. All that he did know was that he knew a little bit more about Louis and understood—not that he agreed or liked it at all— _why_ he had to fish. It was all for family.

Slowly, Harry said, “I… understand.” then paused. “and I’m sorry you’re doing something you don’t want to do in your life. No one should live that way. People should always try to, like, try to find the things they most love and do everything they can do to get there. And, you know, if you don’t know what that is, it’d be good to dedicate yourself to finding it.”

Louis lopsidedly smiled, but didn’t say anything. The two stayed in comfortable silence for a while, looking out at the horizon, the vastness that went everywhere they looked other than behind, the starry and lit sky. That was when Harry remembered something. He lit up immediately and looked over at Louis.

“Louis,” he said. Louis looked down from the sky and looked over at Harry with a tired smile. “did you know that if you help a merperson, you get a wish?”

His eyebrows quirked, his expression taking on a look that said Louis wasn’t about to believe such nonsense. “Oh, fuck off, Harry, that’s a lie.”

Harry gasped exaggeratedly. “You’re going to have to call me ‘Your Highness’ again for swearing at me. The disrespect... I can't allow it!” He crossed his arms over his chest, sitting up straight and huffing. His smile gave it away that Harry wasn't at all angry. “I’m frankly quite offended.”

“Oh, come off it, Your Highness. You can’t be serious right now?” Harry nodded, his eyebrows raising. Louis gaped at him. “A—shut up, no way. You’re lying about the wish.”

A laugh tumbled out from Harry’s mouth, his head falling back. “I’m not!”

Louis’ eyes were wide. “A _wish_? A real, legitimate, authentic wish? It doesn’t, like, turn into some twisted version of what I wanted after a while or something?”

Harry shook his head. “No, no. It’s real. And it’s the only time a merperson can _grant_ a wish. We can’t grant wishes for ourselves, but for fish and, well, I guess humans. And… as long as it doesn’t end up with someone dead, offer someone or something omnipotence, or alter the natural space and time continuums or something…. then…” he nodded with a hum that shifted in light, happy pitches.

Louis resembled a fish as his mouth open and closed without speaking. It drew a small laugh from Harry. Silently, but very animatedly, Louis brought his fingers to his temples and shot them out with his eyes wide, mouthing a “What?!” and dropped his hands to his lap. “That’s unreal. It seems so simple. What’s the catch? Wait…” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “What is it that you need help with?”

That was it. Harry shrugged, smiling as he did so. “I don’t know. I’m alright where I am.” Louis sighed. “Unless you can help me walk—do you guys have that sort of magic?”

A scoff escaped Louis. “Not for your scenario, no. I’m afraid not.”

Harry clicked his tongue and pressed his lips together. “Hmm.” His eyebrows quirked with another shrug as he looked away from Louis, past him, peering at the division between sky and sea. He’d never stayed out this long during the night, so he had never exactly gotten the chance to appreciate how this world looked when it was dark. The truth was, too, that it wasn’t _really_ dark to begin with, not with the moon and stars illuminating everything below them. Harry wondered how this happened. He’d never seen a sunset or a sunrise. He only knew that the sky gradually shifted in color throughout the day. That was all. Everything else was left to his imagination.

It was beautiful.

“You look like you’ve never been outside—or, well, I mean… outside from the water.” Louis laughed, waving a hand in front of Harry’s face. Harry blinked and directed his attention to a smiling Louis. “Enjoying the view, I see.”

Harry’s astounded expression shifted into friendliness, another gentle, but radiant smile on his lips. “Yes, actually.” Laughter laced his voice, his eyes lifting up behind Louis for a moment before darting back to him. “I think your world is beautiful, Louis.” His eyebrows slanted very slightly, his words holding a sound of longing. Louis’ smile faded slightly, sympathy replacing his features. Harry wasn’t sure where to look. He thought he was looking at Louis too much, too frantic, as he looked behind him again.

“Hey, spit it out, what do you want to say?” Louis asked, looking over his shoulder to the horizon before looking back at Harry.

“We have this… this story.” Harry began. He looked back at Louis. “It, er, it’s weird, it’s like… a myth, maybe. We don’t know, we just assume it. We’ve been told about sunrises and sunsets. We think it’s not true—”

“It is, you’ve got that right.”

“That’s good to know!” Harry chirped. “Anyways, that’s not really the myth of it all. It’s the idea of the purple sunrise. My people have said that if a merperson was to see a purple sunrise that their hopes, dreams, true love ideals, their destiny—all of it, yeah? It’s said to turn into the merperson’s favor. Whoever sees it, at least. Of course… no one has. I mean, I honestly think I’m the bravest person out of the merfolk now because I voluntarily come up whenever I want when I can.” Harry shrugged sheepishly, lowering his head. “I must be weird.” He looked up at Louis through his eyelashes. “It’s weird, right?”

Louis jutted his bottom lip out and shrugged. “Not really. You’re curious, so I understand that. If I could easily jump into the water and explore without… I don’t know, getting everything I need just to ensure I can breathe underwater and, y’know, not be terrified of the idea that a shark might come and kill me, I’d want to spend time in the ocean, too.”

Harry hummed. “Sharks are actually kind creatures. I mean, they can be vicious, sure, but they’re not so bad, most of them. If any of us bleed—fish, merfolk, humans, anyone—then they can be a little dangerous. Their size is a little intimidating and worrying sometimes if they get too close to the kingdom, but yeah, no, they’re actually really lovely creatures.” He grinned admiringly. “Sometimes I joke about wanting one as a pet.”

“Don’t they hurt people though? A lot?” Harry gave Louis a look that had Louis immediately retracting his question. “Sorry, sorry, alright. I don’t know everything. I’m wrong.”

“I mean, not willingly. They get… confused. Sometimes when you humans are on those… I don’t know what you guys do, but it’s like… a board of some sort?”

“It’s called surfboarding, yeah. It's fun.”

“Okay. Well, I was talking to this great white shark once—not here, um, more out in North America. He was really upset after kind of biting off this person’s arm and my friend Niall and I, we comforted him because he thought that he was going to eat a seal.”

Louis gave him a quizzical look. “You _comforted_ him?”

“Yes…?” Harry furrowed his brows at him. “Don’t you comfort your land animals?”

“I can’t _talk_ to them and they don’t understand me half the time, so no, not really?” He said incredulously.

“That’s really unfortunate.”

Louis clicked his tongue with another shrug. “Look, though, let’s go back to this… sunrise whatever thing. Purple sunrise. That _does_ exist, you know? And...  I mean, you can watch it if you’d like.” Harry held up a finger and pointed it behind himself. “What?”

“If I’m going to watch it, I want to watch it right. I want… to be able to be as high as I can be, up on that,” Harry jabbed his finger and looked over his shoulder. “that cliff.”

That was it, too. That was the catch. Louis paused and nodded deeply, exhaling slowly. That was the ultimate catch. How was Harry going to get up there when he was all the way down here? Louis’ lips pressed together and he put his hand on his hips, humming in thought. Harry glanced over at him, seeing Louis tilt his head left and right, looking unsure, then contemplative, then with his eyes only looking up and to the right, then quirking his eyebrows with a tiny hum again. “That won’t be easy. But…” Louis got to his feet. “Nothing’s impossible. We can carry babies who can’t walk anywhere, so why couldn’t I get you up there?”

Harry’s smile was alight with excitement, happiness glinting in his eyes as he looked up at Louis. “Are you serious?”

“Entirely, yeah. I don’t see why not. It’s got to be an effort between the two of us, are you up for it?” Harry nodded vigorously. A soft giggle escaped Louis. “Alright, then. Will you meet me up on the shoreline of the beach? I need to go get my bike.”

“What’s a bike?” Harry asked, then pushed off the rocks and sunk into the water. He turned to face Louis as he started walking back the way he came.

Looking over his shoulder, Louis called back to Harry with a joyous, “You’ll see!” and hopped off the rocks at the bottom of the small cliff, right onto the sand. Harry’s eyebrows rose and he watched as Louis ran across the empty beach so easily. He saw how his colorful _shoes_ hit the ground, sometimes splashing sand behind him with every step he took. He saw the heel-toe movement, slowing it down in his head, observing how Louis pushed off the balls of his toes as the other foot lifted up, heel first, then flat with the toes coming down.

It was so hypnotic. He looked like he was having fun just running, and Harry wanted to cry. He ducked into the water and swam around the rocks to head to the shore. The waves were shallow, not as close to the wall at the very back of the beach like earlier. How did that happen? Harry wondered why the sea came and went sometimes like that. He could feel his caudal fin barely grazing the bottom as it elevated each second he pushed forward. He lifted his head up, swimming carefully until the bottom was right under him enough to sit. He scooted himself closer and closer to the edge of the water where the waves lapped lazily onto the wet sand.

Looking around, Harry laughed in shock. He had never been _here_. The rocky pathway that was connected to the bottom of the cliff was as close as he had ever gotten, but this… was so incredible that Harry couldn’t believe he was on the very teetering edge between land and sea. Looking right at the low slope of the sand that stopped when the grey wall did was definitely a sight, especially when behind the wall was a large road that went left and right, and across the road seemed to be buildings and buildings made by something that was definitely _not_ coral, sponge, or rock.

He circled his gaze to the wall that broke off in the middle. Louis reappeared after he disappeared behind it for a minute. He carried something large in his hands. Harry had no idea how to explain what it was. He tilted his head as Louis rested one hand at the front of it and the other at the back. He walked along its side and it came along with him. Two, large wheels clicked as they spun over the sand towards Harry. “Bike…” Harry voiced experimentally.

“Look at you!” Louis shouted. They smiled over at each other. “Have you ever been at the shoreline?”

“No, never. I’m—this is so much fun, I didn’t even know what to expect. Still don't know what to expect, honestly.” He could feel his heart pounding, and for once not from fear, but from the anticipation of what was going to happen. “I’m really excited.”

“Yeah, can imagine you’d be over the moon about this. It’s getting you up that’ll be the most difficult of it all.” Louis drew closer and closer with the contraption called a bike, his smile never ceasing. “Your smile’s contagious.” Harry could feel a slight warmth rising in his cheeks, but that only had his beaming grin widening. Louis carefully pushed the bike into the water right besides where Harry was and kicked something down that touched the bottom. “Don’t know if that’ll do much, but.”

“What is that?” Harry asked. “What’s this whole thing?”

“A bicycle, or, alternatively a bike. This…” he pointed at the thing he had kicked. “It’s like… it’s the break. Kind of—have you ever seen a sailing ship?” Harry’s eyes brightened as he nodded. “When they throw an anchor over the ship to fall down into the water, it’s supposed to keep the ship _there_ so it doesn’t move. It keeps the ship grounded… if that makes sense.”

“It does.” Harry had never been so grateful all of a sudden. Louis tried to explain things to him so he could understand them better. It was an admirable trait, exhibiting how much effort Louis _did_ put just to inform Harry about anything. “Thank you for… explaining it like that. I mean—no, really. I like that. Your comparison. It helped a lot. Had no idea what you meant by break, honestly.”

A laugh bubbled out from Louis. “It’s no problem.” He patted the triangular looking pad in the middle of the bike. “This is the seat.” He pointed at what his other hand was gripping at. “These are the handlebars.”

“ _Handlebars_?”

“They help you steer. Like this.” He twisted the handlebars left and right and Harry’s eyes widened with glee. “So my idea is… that you are going to have to, erm, get on. I mean, I figure you can since you pick yourself up onto the rocks so easily.” He laughed softly. “Strong arms’ll do that, I can see.” Harry saw his eyes flit over to his biceps. Harry peered down at them and looked up at Louis, who licked his top lip quickly. Was that a compliment? It felt like it. “Right, so, can you get up on here?”

Harry bit his lip, taking hold of the other handle. He gripped at a piece of metal that made up the bike and nodded surely. “Why not?” He pulled himself up, grunting. He could feel his arms straining to pull his whole weight on such a specific area that was so small, but Harry managed. He panted softly, still holding onto the handle with one hand and the other resting on his rising and falling chest. “That was a little harder than I thought it would be. But, hey, I did it.”

Louis swallowed thickly. “Yeah, you did good. Erm… wait.” Harry adjusted himself a little comfortably, peering down at his bum and looking down at his tail. It was long. His caudal fin still lay flat in the water. “Can you bend? I mean, yeah, can—if I took your tail and folded it back so you were sitting on your fins, is that okay? It won’t hurt anything, will it?”

Harry pouted a little before shaking his head. “No, I’ll be okay.”

“Alright, then, hang on.” Louis scurried around the bike to Harry’s other side, dipping his hands into the water and grabbing his fin from the tips and where his tail and fin _met_. He lifted it up and moved it closer to Harry. Somehow, it tickled, and Harry giggled. “What, Chuckles? Pick your bum up off the seat, come on.” Harry grabbed both handlebars and did just that. Louis moved closer to him and folded Harry’s tail backwards. “Alright…” He could feel his fin lying right on top of the seat underneath him. Looking down, Harry saw his tail curve backwards. “There we go, now sit back down… that’s it, yeah, you’ve got it! Just like how we sit on the back of our legs sometimes, really. Good.”

“Oh really?” Harry asked, looking down at himself. He made sure he was _really_ sitting on the seat. He felt if he wobbled too much, he might fall. That had him gripping the rubber handlebars even more. “Yeah, we’re quite… supple, I guess.” He lifted his shoulders up and down to express his excitement once more. Louis laughed. “Now what?”

“Now? You just hold on tight. I’ll help drive this.” Louis paused before placing his hand on the tip of the left handlebar. Harry moved his closer to the middle so Louis had room. The sides of their fingers touched as Louis curled his fingers around the handle. Harry sucked in a deep breath and looked up at Louis, only to look straight ahead so fast when he saw Louis was looking at him in a way that had Harry’s heart swelling with warmth. “Ready?” He asked, his voice soft and light. Harry nodded surely, making a sound of assertion.

Louis turned the handle towards the left, more inwards to itself, and pushed from the back, his hand on the underside of the seat. “It’s going to be a bit of a bumpy ride. If you start falling, lean into me, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Harry breathed out, heavy and labored. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. Maybe it was just hitting him that he was drawing so far from the ocean for the first time, which no merperson ever had in the history of time. That was definitely a huge part of it. He sighed out calmly as the bike moved towards the grey wall and felt Louis’ hand rub comforting circles on Harry’s back. “Sorry,” Harry said. “It’s… it’s a little scary… I don’t know. I was all excited, and I still am, but like—oh, wow,” he laughed nervously. “It’s happening and I’ve never been so far from the water…” he looked over his shoulder to see the ocean getting farther and farther away from him.

It was surreal.

“I bet—hey, it’s alright.” Louis squeezed his shoulder and Harry hummed softly. “You’re not going too far, I promise. Just up here, down the sidewalk a bit and we’ll be up on the cliff. And right under it is the water, yeah? It’ll be okay.” Harry could only nod. He could feel the nervous sweat against his palms and the rubber of the handles, so he closed his fists around them tighter. “Sorry.” Louis said quickly, and Harry felt his hand disappear from his shoulder and hold on under the seat again.

“It’s okay. Thank you.” Harry said, looking up at Louis and offering him a reassuring smile. “You’re also okay.”

Louis laughed softly. “Okay—whoops.” Harry felt like he involuntarily jumped when the bike went over a particularly bumpy part of the sand and nearly lost his balance. Louis paused and Harry’s abdomen clenched as he leaned towards the opposite side of where he almost fell over. “You good?”

“Yeah.” He looked forward. “Yeah, we’re almost there anyways.”

They rode in silence. Harry had visibly calmed down and was just quietly eager to reach the wall. Louis yawned a couple of times, which made Harry yawn, and they both laughed warmly at their contagious yawns. Usually at this time, Harry would be asleep. Staying up late wasn’t something he always did. It seemed that he would be up all night for the first time in his life, too. Today was full of firsts, it seemed, and he was looking forward to see what other firsts would come his way as the night shifted into day—like watching the purple sunrise, for instance.

When they reached the middle of the wall, Louis turned into it. In between both of them were sets of stairs. Harry pressed his lips together, but then figured this wouldn’t be such a huge problem, either. The steps were easy to bump up onto in his head, anyways. “Can you sort of climb up while I carry this up to the top of the stairs?” Louis asked.

“Too easy, Lou.” Harry waved his hand dismissively, drawing a giggle from Louis as he positioned the bike right up against the bottommost step. He transferred himself from the bike seat to the step that was easiest for him to fall onto. His tail fell like a doll onto the sand and Harry curled his fin inwards happily before he pushed up from the step he was on. Using his arms to pull his weight, he sat himself up on the step above the one he was just on and continued bumping backwards. Louis was patient as he propped the bike up onto the steps when Harry was farther up. Louis lifted the bike every few steps he took. When Harry _did_ get to the very top step, he inched closer to the outer wall that went the other way and peeked from it, seeing the grey road with white, parallel lines evenly spaced out, side by side in rows. He hummed curiously and saw it break off into a smaller road further out, and across from it was a square-ish building.

“Up we go.” Louis said, breaking Harry’s observations. He pulled himself up and Louis helped fold his tail back. “What were you looking at?”

“Everything I can.”

Louis smiled down at him. “Turn the handles right, please.” Harry did so, and they went on the sidewalk along the wall towards the cliff. “So, this is a car park.”

“A  _what_?”

They both laughed. Harry didn’t know which way to look. “We have cars to get around in. People set them here when they get out of them to walk.” Harry was trying to listen while looking everywhere. Everything was different from up here. On his right was the beach, the ocean, the horizon. He’d never seen it from such a high view, from such a _far_ view. He felt he could get a proper view of it all. “Cars are… kind of like bikes, but much bulkier and more of a machine.” On his left was the human world. Harry jumped and wanted to curl into himself when he saw someone exit a door and walk along a floor across them. “Relax, you.” Louis patted Harry’s shoulder gently. “That’s a motel or an inn. These ones face the beach and they have walkways on all three floors. And don’t worry. It’s far too dark for anyone to see you.”

Good. Harry was beginning to worry, what with the tiny glow of his tail and all. He sighed with extreme relief. “Good. I don’t want anyone to see me.”

“And—oh look, here’s a car now.” Harry’s eyes widened as he looked at the end of the car park to see a huge, oval shaped machine cruise by with lights shining out of it. He yelped when it grew louder and zoomed by, freezing in shock. Louis merely laughed softly, squeezing his shoulder soothingly. “They can’t see you from all the way there, you, it’s alright.”

“It wasn’t that… oh my—it was….” Harry gulped. “ _Whoa_ , that was fast… and… loud…” When did his heartbeat quicken? He sucked in deep breaths and let them out slowly. “That was horrifying!” He exclaimed, and Louis threw his head back with a loud laugh. Frowning, Harry lightly smacked Louis’ hand that was up against his own. “Don’t be rude.”

Louis covered his mouth to stifle the laugh. Once it died out, he took hold of the underside of the seat again. “I’m sorry. It was just—I didn’t think you’d be so scared. Especially about a car.” Harry hunched his shoulders, feeling embarrassed. “It was endearing, Harry, don’t worry.” His head perked up at that, his mouth falling open. Louis stared straight ahead. Even from the moonlight, Harry was sure he could see Louis’ neck and cheekbones pinking. He didn’t know how to take that compliment. His innocence of this world wasn’t his fault, and yet that made him quirky, and so he was endearing?

“Are you sure?” Harry asked quietly after a few, long moments of silence.

“Sure about what?”

“I don’t understand. Say I understood, like, cars and stuff and I wasn’t so nervous or something. Would I still be endearing?”

Louis sighed. “That slipped out, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Endearing is a compliment last I checked, I just want to make sure it’s not like… just because I am what I am. Like me being stupid about your world isn’t what’s endearing about me, if that makes sense.”

Frowning, Louis stopped pushing the bike. “I mean—Harry.” His foot kicked the break down. The bike stood sturdier than it had on the beach, Harry noticed. He peered up at Louis when he stood in front of the bike, his hands holding the handles from the opposite side. “I think you’re kind. You’re actually very smart, too. I mean—I’m not, like… fetishing you or anything.”

Harry scoffed. “ _Fetishing_? That’s insulting.”

“Also, I like to think we’re maybe friends. I’ve enjoyed your company so far, I only meant, like, you—everything you’ve said and done so far, just being yourself? You’re very likable. That’s all.” Something swelled in Harry’s chest. Louis always tried to make sure he understood what he was saying. Always. Harry swallowed, nodding once. “And I understand why you’d be scared, alright? I just see this all the time so I thought it was funny in an endearing way. I hadn’t expected it, either, so.”

“Okay.” Harry smiled delightedly, humming once more. “Thank you, that’s very nice of you.”

Louis huffed, his own smile crooked and amused. “An odd answer to being called endearing, but, you’re very welcome.” His eyes softened in sincerity and Harry lowered his gaze from him. Louis walked to Harry’s side again, lifted the break up off of the ground, and pushed the bike forward again.

Harry remembered something. It made him laugh out loud, warm and cheerful. “I have a question.”

Louis chuckled lightly. “Sure, go for it.”

“The first time I stole your little boats, you were…” Harry licked his lips in thought. “I don’t know what you were doing, honestly, but I kind of started humming along and had to hide really fast.”

“That _was_ you!” Louis cackled joyously. “Oh my god, yeah—that was weird, I thought I was hearing stuff.”

“What was it that you were doing? That thing with your mouth? It was like… in an O and you just made this very light sound with it.”

“What, you mean...?” Louis made the sound again. Harry looked up at him and nodded seriously. “Whistling? That’s whistling, Harry.”

“Whistling…” Harry whispered. He giggled to himself.

“I’ll teach you when we get up to the cliff, alright? And stop asking me so many questions, it makes me look bad because I’ve actually got _tons_ for you, too. I've just got to sort them out in my head.” Louis laughed. “For instance, what… are these here? I _think_ I know, but… none of us have those here on our sides, so I’m honestly at a loss.”

Harry looked up and looked down at where Louis was looking. On either side of his torso, Harry had three, long gill slits. “Gills. It’s how I, erm… breathe underwater, I guess. I filter water through them.” He looked up at Louis and was greeted with a radiant smile. “I’ve also got lungs, as you can tell. I can hold my breath really well. Er…” He pressed his lips together. “When I’m underwater… I _must_ use my gills. I don’t necessarily need to use my lungs and my nose or mouth, but sometimes I might if I’m upset or something.”

“What about when you talk?” Louis questioned. They were getting closer to the cliff now. Harry stretched his neck up, wanting to see more, more, more. He ended up using his arms up so much that he nearly fell, but he quickly planted his bum back on the seat, balanced again.

“Remember earlier when we met? I _was_ speaking to you. We don’t exactly use our mouths to communicate to one another down there. Only when we laugh do we ever really _open_ our mouths. Or sigh. Or... huff, I don't know. Does that makes sense? It depends, but for all intensive purposes, we don’t speak with our mouths. It’s a mixture of echolocation—”

“You know what echolocation is?” Louis sounded surprised.

Harry looked up at him and waved a dismissive hand. “Pfft,” he grabbed onto the handlebar again, but ended up clasping his hand around Louis’ too fast as he nearly fell to the left again, his heart skipping a beat from the one second of fear. Harry quickly regained his composure. “We, like, invented that.”

“Bats use it, too.”

“What are bats?”

“One step at a time, Harry, that’s for another day. There are too many land animals for me to cover with you.” Harry tilted his head, thinking about that. Did that mean Louis intended to see him again if he could? He smiled to himself and rubbed at his eyes with his finger tiredly.

“Fair enough.”

Louis stopped moving the bike once they were just behind the cliff. Anyone could stand on top of the wall and jump down onto it. Harry supposed that was what was going to happen. “Here we are…” Louis said, kicking the break down again. Harry once again used his arms to transfer up onto the wall and he lifted his tail over it so it dangled down, touching the cliff. He carefully slid down onto it and smiled widely. “You good?”

“Yeah.” He felt like he was on top of the world. He couldn’t believe he was so high up, and the buildings behind him only proved that he wasn’t even that high up to begin with. Harry was overwhelmed with the gust of new and exciting engulfing him. The water was calm and he could see the reflection of the moon against the water so vividly that Harry wished he could somehow keep what he was seeing in his mind forever. “Yeah, Lou, this is… it’s so good, I’m good, this is so beautiful…” His voice trailed off from already being so soft. “Thank you for bringing me up here.”

“It’s no problem.” Harry frowned, turning around to look at Louis who hadn’t climbed up over the wall’s ledge yet. He looked at Louis expectantly, waiting for him to come sit besides him. “What?”

“Aren’t you joining me?” Worry was etched on Harry’s face. He didn’t want Louis to leave. He couldn’t sit here until sunrise all alone in a world he wasn’t all too comfortable in. “Please?” His eyes begged for Louis to stay.

Louis looked unsure, regretful. “I just—I’ve got work early tomorrow, I can’t stay up all night—”

“When are you ever going to stay up all night until sunrise with a merman?” Harry asked, his tone serious. “This is fun, this is exciting, why wouldn’t you want to lose sleep over this? Would it kill you if you skipped a day of work? Or if you got to work late? I don’t know. I just, come on.” Louis leaned closer to the wall’s ledge, looking down at Harry with his hands propped onto the rock hard cement. Harry offered his hand to him. “Let’s watch the purple sunrise together.”

The smile that crept up Louis’ face seemed both saddened and yet very genuine. He licked his lips and took a moment before nodding and standing up on the ledge. He bent to take Harry’s offered hand, firmly gripping it as he lowered himself down besides Harry with his legs outstretched. “Just this once, I suppose.” He said, smiling over at Harry.

“Good. You have to teach me how to whistle anyways. As if I would let you leave. You didn’t have a chance. I’m the prince of the Atlantic Ocean for Poseidon’s sake. I’m your superior. _Bow._ ” That had Louis breaking into a pure laugh, his shoulders shaking and the back of his hand pressing to his mouth to quiet it. Harry giggled, too, resting his hands on his lap. “I’m kidding, I swear, I’m really never like that.”

“I think you would’ve... “ Louis let out a tiny spurt of a giggle even after his laugh died out. “acted completely snobbish and pompous _already_ if you _were_ like that. But I appreciate you speaking casually. If you were always courteous with me with all that royalty crap, I probably would’ve hit you and told you to knock it off.”

“I’m off duty for the whole week.” Harry stretched his arms out diagonally. “I can do whatever I want.”

Louis chuckled, crisscrossing his legs like before. “‘Off duty’, make it sound like being royal is, like, work. Well—I mean, I guess it is, it’s no disney fairytale I’d imagine. Speaking of which, I think you’d be rather fond of a particular disney movie—a movie is like a visual story—called _The Little Mermaid_. If I’m not busy some other day, I could bring my phone and we could watch it…” Harry laughed out loud, covering his mouth. He shot a glance over to Louis and it only had him laughing even more. “Good god, what’d I say?”

Harry pulled his hands down and sighed comfortably. “If you think we don’t know the story about _The Little Mermaid_ , then you’ve got another thing coming. Sailors… from old have talked about that lore for ages. It was one of the first few times we were ever sure that humans had any idea of what we were—not if we existed of course, but that we were… a concept, I guess.”

“Obviously you’re not just a concept anymore.”

Harry wagged a finger at Louis. “But don’t you go around telling anyone. I want us to be a secret still.”

Louis made an X motion with his finger over his chest. “Cross my heart.” Harry looked half perplexed, half horrified. “It’s… something we do when we promise something. We also do this… hold out your pinky like this.” Louis stuck his pinky up right in the air. Harry did the same. “And then we sort of just… hook them together.” His pinky hooked around Harry’s. Harry let his own finger curl around Louis’. Warmth seemed to flood from the tiny gesture, through his body and all the way to the tip of his tail. It curled upwards gracefully.

“Are you promising something?” Harry asked. Louis didn’t pull his finger from Harry’s, so Harry didn’t either.

“Just that I won’t tell a soul about you and your people. And, to also put it on the record, I have not told anyone before this promise has been made.” They both giggled. “I’m also going to promise that…” He paused, lopsidedly smiling. “that you’re going to have a really fun all nighter.”

“It’s my first one.” Harry confessed giddily.

“Even better, then.” Louis unhooked his pinky from Harry’s. “And that’s that. A promise is a promise.”

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

**12: 00 AM**

“It is officially midnight. Good morning.” Louis said, taking his phone out of his pocket. It had made a beeping sound and Harry had jumped in shock from it. He grabbed it without asking for it and studied the rectangular object carefully. When he pressed the middle button and it lit up, Harry blinked and Louis started uncontrollably cracking up. Harry audibly _ooh_ ed at the screen, seeing the 12:00 on the top in large font.

Harry turned the phone around in his hands. “What is this?” He questioned, noticing that when he tapped at the screen, sometimes it would move left and right. When he swiped his finger all the way to the left, he stared for a moment at the keypad that had showed up. “What do I do?”

“That’s a football, Haz—Harry. Sorry. Haven’t you ever seen people playing with it on the beach?” Harry’s eyes narrowed before he nodded. “There you go, you know what I’m talking about. Tap in the numbers 1 2 2 4.”

“You like playing the game?” When Harry tapped the numbers, the phone unlocked, and a small notification popped up on the top of the screen. “Someone…who’s Zayn? What is that?”

Louis chuckled, taking the phone from Harry. “He’s my best friend. And _that_ is a text message. Zayn sent me a message.” He swiped and tapped across his phone so easily. Harry peered over his shoulder as he saw Louis navigate to his messages. “Privacy is very important to me, excuse me.” He laughed, holding the phone to his chest.

Harry threw his head back to laugh, leaning back straight against the wall to give Louis space. “I’m sorry, it’s just a really interesting contraption—is that all… the previous messages?”

“They are indeed. This phone can do more things than just send messages and call people. It can play music, can let you watch videos—they’re more or less tinier movies—take photos. You name it.”

“When will you teach me how to whistle?”

Louis exhaled a huff of a breath, clicking the side of his phone after he responded to his friend and shoved the phone into his pocket. “Alright, watch me first.” His lips formed a circular shape. Harry looked at them with a hint of a smile on his own lips. Louis effortlessly blew out from his mouth and the sound came out. How did that happen? It was a different tune than he remembered, but Harry was sure he liked this one a little better. When Louis stopped, Harry’s eyes drew up to his eyes. “See? You try."

“Alright, alright.” Harry rushed, his mouth forming a circle and he blew it out of it, but nothing but his breath came out. His eyes dimmed in disappointment, so he tried again. Still, all that came out was his breath, warm and soft. “What’s wrong? Why can’t I— _stop_!” Harry’s frown melted into a semi uncontrollable smile as Louis failed to bite his lip and stifle a laugh.

“No, no! A lot of people can’t whistle. And you’re not done trying. Try to curl your tongue a little towards you while you blow out— _gently_ , don’t force it out too much.” Louis pointed to his own mouth as he demonstrated _very_ slightly curling his tongue just before his mouth circled. The whistle came out loud and clear. Harry was transfixed, staring at Louis’ mouth—which looked soft and inviting alone. “Go on, now, you try again.”

When Harry tried again, he just _barely_ heard the softest hint of a whistle sound out of him. It was mostly air that tried to break the whistle, but it was there, and his hands flew to his mouth as he smiled brightly at his accomplishment, shocked that such a sound could actually _come_ out of him. “I did it!” He let his hands lift from his mouth and jut out in front of him, his eyes wide. Louis clapped, chuckling lowly.

“That was good! Try again. You keep trying to force the air out, don’t do that.”

This time, it happened. It was so smooth and crystal clear, flying past his lips like a feather and fading off when Harry ran out of breath. Louis’ eyes lit up at his success. Harry scoffed in disbelief before he whistled again. It started out fine, but was short lived until his breath overtook it, so he tried once more, and it was just as smooth and clear as the third try. “I’m doing it, I’m doing it!” His voice raised with glee. He whistled tunelessly, growing comfortable with it.

Harry swayed left and right and Louis was laughing warmly. “You’ve got it, yeah. It’s not so hard after you get used to it.” His eyes softened as he watched Harry look up to the heavens and whistle his little merman heart out like he was never going to be able to do it again after this. They softened impossibly more, and Harry didn’t notice how gentle Louis’ gaze was as he looked at him. The corner of Louis’ lip lifted, giving an edge that he felt bittersweet, but the moment Harry looked back down at Louis, it shifted into genuine happiness at Harry’s dimpled one.

It was contagious.

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

**1:42 AM**

Harry and Louis had managed to scoot themselves to the middle of the cliff. They laid themselves down beside one another with Louis’ head at Harry’s fin and Harry’s head at Louis’ feet. They stared up at the sparkling sky, sleepiness taking over them both, but they kept talking to keep each other awake. It was working pretty well, too, since they were both heavily invested in each others’ completely different lifestyles.

“You said you sleep in a _clam shell_?” Louis repeated, sounding both surprised and yet not at this point. “How? Aren’t those… tiny?”

“ _What_?” Harry giggled, sitting up just a little to look at Louis’ face before resting back down on the rocky surface. “Not all of them are small. There are large ones. Larger than the ones I’m sure _you_ know of, especially since someone like _me_ can fit in them enough for the top to close down on me. We keep them well hidden.” He sighed comfortably, but morosely. "They’re… actually vulnerable to extinction, we’ve realized. They make such comfortable beds and we can just pull the top of the shell down when we don’t want anyone to bother us. It’s very convenient.“

Louis snorted. “Aren’t you lot just so lucky, then? I bet yours is nice and big then, too?”

“It is, of course! The best for the future king of the Atlantic Ocean.”

They were quiet for a little bit until Louis raised another question. “How exactly are the pearls made?” He sat up abruptly and inched closer to Harry. Harry’s eyes lit up as Louis reached the pearl necklace that hung from Harry’s neck, being very careful as he touched the glistening mineral. “I’ve always wondered. They’re gorgeous. This one’s… it’s real, I’m assuming?”

Harry scoffed. “Of course it’s real.” he said, as if the mere thought of it _not_ being real was just as absurd as his existence to Louis. “Why on earth wouldn’t it be?”

Louis scrunched his nose to hide a smile. “Well, most people here are able to make… fake ones.” Harry gasped. “Yeah, I know. We’re… awful, awful people. Some people are worse, of course. They... farm for pearls. There's a huge value for real, pure, natural pearls, too, so it's really the only way, I mean. I don't know, I don't sell them or make them.”

“Do you eat them, too?”

Louis’ apologetic face was back. “Just the oysters and mussels…” Harry huffed, groaning as he covered his face. “No, I’m sorry, I know, I know now. Come back,” he gently grasped Harry’s forearms, pulling them from his face. Harry let him. “Tell me about the pearls. I just want to know. Enlighten me.”

As Harry studied Louis’ calm, friendly expression, he couldn’t help nodding with his lips pressed together. Even that didn’t stop the smile on his face from coming out. He was smiling too much. It was getting embarrassing at this point. “Erm… well, yeah, They uh—well, not just clams, though mostly clams will, like, make the pearl. Other shelled mollusks can do the same. They’re not _all_ with luster, though. Mine—well, mine, of course mine has it. They just make it from all the stuff that comes into them and they keep doing that until a pearl’s formed. I mean, they’re rare but it does happen…” His eyes lowered to Louis' fingers playing with the pearl necklace.

“What’s the chain?” He asked softly, thumbing the material. It was just as iridescent as the pearl, as Harry’s tail, even.

“Molded scales from those who’ve long passed.”

“How does that work?”

Harry laughed. “Honestly, I’ve no idea. I don’t… I don’t make things, I just buy them.”

Louis raised his eyebrows up at Harry. “Yeah? What’s your currency?”

“Megalodon teeth.”

“Fuck off, you’re lying.” Louis shot at him, his voice mixed with laughter.

“I’m not! Why’s it so hard for you to believe? Extinct shark teeth are the way to go with us. We had found so many once in the skeletons of them thousands and thousands of years ago and we’ve been using them ever since. It’s never failed us, it does us well.” Harry nodded surely.

Louis snorted. “And you just carry _huge_ amounts of it wherever you go when you go _shop_?”

“Most common buys cost up at most ten to fifteen MTs.” Louis mouthed ‘MT’ and smirked to himself, shaking his head down at Harry. Harry’s caudal fin curled upwards at that, affection swelling up in the pit of his stomach. “Yes, Megalodon Teeth. It’s real. Other expensive buys may cost anywhere between thirty or forty. And, right, even _more_ expensive buys cost anywhere up to nineties all the way to two hundreds.”

“And _how_ is it that you can ever possibly carry around two hundred megalodon teeth to a vendor?” Louis asked, fondness crossing his features.

“That’s when you hire dolphins to pull a shell chariot filled with the teeth… obviously…” Harry said slowly, as if it were the _most_ obvious thing ever _._ Louis reached down to very, very lightly tap Harry’s cheek. “Ow.” He chuckled. Louis rolled his eyes. Harry took Louis’ hand gently. “Don’t be mean.”

“I barely touched you.” Louis pointed out, his voice barely above a whisper. “Don’t be cheeky.” Incidentally, Harry’s dimples made an appearance as he smiled affectionately, large and pearly white. “You can’t say anything when I laugh at you if you’re going to make me feel stupid when I find things absolutely unreal about your world.”

Harry sighed out lightly. “Deal.”

“Alright.”

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

**4:30 AM**

The sky wasn’t as pitch dark anymore. It was gradually lightening.

They’d fallen asleep. Harry’s only condition was that they could not, under _any_ circumstances, miss the purple sunrise. Louis had showed Harry on his phone that aside from staying in contact with friends and family, playing music, watching, making and taking videos and photos, that he could also set an alarm clock. He promised him that it would wake them up exactly a half an hour before expected sunrise. Harry then asked him how he knew when sunrise was going to come up, and Louis said that that was an explanation for another time.

When the sound disrupted their exhausted sleep, Louis was the one who woke first and ended up shaking Harry awake very gently. He prodded collarbones, his shoulders, the back of his shoulders, and whispered his name. Harry snoozed on, his chest rising and falling slowly, but fully. Louis then carefully shook him awake, and Harry groaned, his tail curling up entirely towards Harry’s body to smack Louis in the face. His eyes weren’t even open. Louis paused, looking half done with everything, like he should've expected Harry to do something like that, but ended up laughing. “Get up, Curly.”

The nickname had Harry’s eyes shooting open. He yawned into his curled fist that rested against his cheek and the rock beneath him. “Curly?”

“Yes, curly hair.”

Speaking of hair…

Harry sat up abruptly. His hair fell forward over his shoulders and over his face. It was so smooth, so soft, so loose. Harry didn’t know how to comprehend it. He’d never felt his hair _dry_. He hadn’t even realized before that his hair _was_ dry. He let out a soft, nervous “Heh,” before he lifted his hand to rake through his hair. It was full, voluminous, shining with how healthy it was. “Oh… wow…” It felt forward, and Harry puffed out a breath. His hair rose forward before falling in front of his face again, and he let out a “HAH!” before clapping his hands over his mouth.

Bubbles of laughter tumbled from Louis’ lips. Harry’s realization to his dry hair seemed to have broken him. He fell back onto the rock, holding his stomach as he laughed. “You’ve never had dry hair? It was dry before, didn’t you realize?”

“No, not til… oh my—” he paused, running his hand through his deep curls. They seemed to bounce and hold in place. Harry whined, upset that his hair seemed to like to do whatever it wanted to. No matter how many times he pulled his parted hair up behind his face, it still fell forward.

Louis sat up and scrambled to sit in front of Harry. “Alright, turn to me.” He said, small bursts of giggles coming from him every now and then. Harry crossed his arms over his chest with an annoyed pout, his eyes cast to the side bitterly. “You’re so funny.” Louis whispered, shaking his head as he carded his hands through Harry’s hair. “So soft… even after all that sea water. I’m impressed.” Still, as thick as Harry’s hair was, it was all the same length up to his collarbones. “Hmm.” He pressed his lips in thought before fishing in his pockets and pulling out a hair clip. “Got four sisters that wear these, I’m even carrying them.” Louis shifted closer to Harry. “Stop looking so upset, it’ll be alright.”

Harry mumbled something unintelligible and Louis giggled. “My hair’s never given me so much trouble before. I’m never coming up here again.”

He gathered Harry’s hair that served as overgrown bangs and folded them back, a small, lifted poof appearing, angled to the right. Louis stuck the hair clip through the thick strands and pressed until it clicked into place. “Hang on, I’m not done.” He said, taking out black bobby pins and sticking them into his mouth. “I’m shocked you hadn’t done this before.”

“With what? I don’t have… those, or whatever.”

“Clips and bobby pins. I mean, with flowers or something to pin your hair back.” Louis stuck the bobby pins in place to secure his hair even more.

“I wanted to!” Harry exclaimed. “But, well, there wasn’t anything to help snap it to my hair. Anyways, I like how it flows around me and I can easily just tug it back if I want to. Not here, apparently.”

When Louis pulled his hands down from Harry’s hair, it stayed up and out of his face, pushed up and off to the side. Louis’ smile broke out of him uncontrollably, and he pointed at him. “Hey,” he greeted fondly. “there’s Harry.” Harry’s frown froze and slowly lifted upwards. Louis’ tongue darted from his lips for a moment before he cast his eyes down. His eyes rested on Harry’s tail for a moment. “You know, your tail’s… actually very erm… iridescent, it’s gorgeous.”

Harry sat up straight. His tail lifted and curled up a little. He looked at Louis, who gazed down at the different shines and colors of his tail. “Thank you.” His hands pressed on the rock behind him, holding himself up. He lowered his gaze to his own tail for a moment before looking up at Louis curiously. “I mean, you can—do you want to touch it or something?”

“I kind of already did, didn’t I?” Louis asked, shrugging. “I mean, not really I guess, but, alright.” He lifted his hand and pressed it up against Harry’s tail, brushing his palm along the direction his scales went, and pulled back quickly, making a disgusted sound. “Ugh, it’s _slimy_!” He looked at his palm and stuck his tongue out before rubbing his hand on his pants, looking up at Harry, who was positively beaming with joy.

“Thank you!” Harry giggled, sitting up straighter and running his hand down his tail quickly, humming in delight. “I rub it with seaweed and kelp twice a day. Three times if there’s a royal event I’ve got to attend to.” He looked up at Louis, who gaped at him. “What, did you think that was insulting? It keeps my tail healthy, shiny, and vibrant. And when it’s dark and I’m in the water, it helps its glow, too.”

Louis softened. “I think I did notice that glow, yeah. I’m sorry, that was rude of me, wasn’t it?” He scrunched his nose up at Harry. “I mean, it’s lovely still. Really. Just... yeah, y'know, slimy.”

A low chuckle sounded from Harry. “It’s alright. Thank you. It wasn’t all offensive. It would’ve been a compliment in my world, anyway.” He tucked his tail closer to himself and looked behind Louis. “Do you think we should maybe move a little closer? Like, to the edge?”

Turning around, Louis shrugged and nodded. “Sure, yeah. Come on.” Like before, Harry scooted himself closer to the edge of the cliff. Louis in turn _also_ scooted on his bum right besides Harry. Harry was very, very appreciative of it. It made him happy that Louis did that when he of course was very capable of walking to the edge. He didn’t have to, and yet, he did, and that had Harry’s stomach fluttering with fondness.

Louis’ legs and Harry’s tail dangled over the edge of the cliff. Louis calmly swayed his legs back and forth while Harry gracefully swayed his tail from side to side. Harry saw Louis take his phone out and he smiled. “Fifteen minutes until sunrise.” Harry’s eyes widened over at him. Louis looked at Harry and softly laughed. “Excited?”

“That’s an understatement.” Harry felt like his heart was going to drop out of his head. That didn’t even make _sense_. That was how much his insides were buzzing as the seconds passed by, slowly but surely. He lowered his gaze from Louis before he stared out at the horizon. “I mean… it’s—I love being what I am. I love where I live, I love that I can physically cross as many oceans as I want to and see the world.” Louis kept his eyes on Harry as he spoke, silent and attentive. Harry licked his lips thoughtfully. “I just—I’m actually really very busy and stressed a lot.” He shook his head sadly. “The thrill of being… a prince is kind of diminished when you’re supposed to act a certain way, speak a certain way, have all these expectations… even, like, when I’m born it’s like I was probably expected to throw up elegantly.” Louis’ eyes shifted sympathetically. “And… and… because of that, I guess, like…” Harry paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “I like… try to do what I want whenever I can so I don’t lose who I am for real.”

“That’s admirable.” Louis whispered, nodding gently.

Harry let out a breath of laugh, smiling along with it. “Thank you. And, like, erm… like, I don’t really get those types of days. I have a three more daysoff now and it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. And it’s still—it’s not even over. I’m so… like, satisfied right now. Like I said, I’m alright with where I am, but it’s… a bit mundane? And I like to explore and see and experience new and exciting things, too, and when I don’t get to do that, I’m just… I feel like I’m just _existing_.” His eyebrows quirked, as he looked at Louis, an embarrassed smile making its way onto his face. “Do you know what I mean?”

Louis was staring at him in a way that had him feeling so warm. Harry held his gaze, trying to read what his eyes were screaming back at him. It was a mix of emotions, that was for sure, but Harry just wasn’t sure. He saw Louis’ Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, then he nodded, blinking slowly along with the subtle movement. “Yeah.” His eyebrows slanted, upwards, and Harry loved the look in his eyes, like Louis genuinely understood. “Yeah, I—I completely get you, Harry.”

“I’m glad. But…” Harry frowned. “Why do you get me? Aren’t you happy?”

A grimace formed on Louis’ lips before he pressed them together into a tight line. “I mean, I’m not sad or depressed or anything. But yeah, not happy. I just, like, _am_ , I guess.” He tore his gaze from Harry and looked down at his lap, his hands resting on it, though fidgeting slightly, anxiously. “I wake up. I go to work. I go to the store. I go fish. I go back to work. I come home. I help mum out with everyone. I have… what?” His shoulders raised before dropping quickly. “Maybe an hour to myself? Then I’ve gotta shower and sleep. And then… the next day, it’s the same exact thing.” He exhaled shakily, licking his lips and shaking his head. “I’d like to do… what I’d want to do, have… _fun_ but… it’s…” Louis’ nose scrunched again and he huffed out heavily, running his hand through his hair. He looked at Harry sadly. “It is what it is, y’know? Just not in the cards for me.”

Something didn’t add up to what Louis said, though. Harry looked around them, furrowing his brows before looking back at Louis. “I… but—then what are you doing now? You’re not at home, you… you came back at nighttime… you—I don’t know? You broke that.”

“Took a chance, just like you.” Louis’ eyes lit up with happiness. “You’re pretty persuasive. Inspirational, even, if I learned anything from you, y’know, it’s to… yeah, to take a chance when you can. So, who knows what’ll happen later, of course, but…” For a moment, Louis looked like he was about to start crying, but instead, he seemed simply very emotional. Louis’ eyes were vulnerable as they bore into Harry. “This is actually the most fun I’ve had in a long time, so thank you.”

Harry didn’t know what to say. He was so shocked at this confession. Louis’ heart was literally on display, right on his sleeve. He didn’t think that he ended up helping Louis just as much as Louis had helped Harry. They helped each other. That thought had Harry smiling, and Harry reached over to take Louis’ hand in his.

The sky was slowly lightening up from the dark with shades of a lighter purple, pink, red, and orange.

“Thank you, too.” Harry said, nodding seriously. The pads of his fingers rubbed circles along Louis’ knuckles. “I guess we kind of helped each other, didn’t we?”

“Suppose so, yeah.” Louis laughed quietly, his fingers curling around Harry’s hand. His smile faded slowly, but his eyes never left Harry’s. Harry was feeling so drawn to Louis, felt connected to him in this moment. His eyes darted across his face and Louis squeezed Harry’s hands affectionately. Harry’s lids grew heavy as they lowered more as he leaned into Louis. They lowered to his mouth, his lips thin yet looking invitingly soft.

Louis licked his top lip, breathing out. Their faces were close enough for Harry to feel his warm breath against his lips, Louis’ eyes slowly fluttered shut, his lips parting when Harry’s mouth was so close...

His right eye opened carefully when Louis could see the faintest glow from behind his shut eyes. He looked out towards the horizon to see the bright, gold of the sun was peeking up. “Oh…” he whispered, and Harry’s eye opened. Harry leaned back from Louis, well aware now of his heart pounding through his ears. He sighed out shakily and looked forward.

Harry’s eyes widened at the sun. His eyes lifted up to the sky’s warm gradient of colors. He clasped his hands to his mouth at the purple in the sky, melding into peaches and pinks and oranges and yellows in a radial direction around the rising sun. It was _real_. His mouth fell open and a light scoff escaped him. He could see the reflection of the colors and the sun lighting up the ocean underneath it, gradual but elegant, like it does this every day. Of course it does it every day. It was obvious. Harry’s eyes directed at the sun again and the colors around it. The way they melted into one another reminded him of the cooler colors of his tail, though this was… this was somehow much prettier to him, much more spiritual in a way. He could feel like his soul was rising up with the sun, if anything.

“How are you?” Louis’ voice asked, breaking Harry’s awed, hypnotized stance.

It took him a while, but Harry slowly looked over at Louis and smiled brightly once more, his dimples popping up along his cheeks. “Louis…” he looked up again and then back at Louis. The light of the sun was illuminating Louis in his eyes. Maybe he was exaggerating everything, maybe he wasn’t. Either way, who could blame him? Harry had never seen this before until now, and _everything_ was beautiful. “You’re the sun.”

Louis looked taken aback by such a compliment. His eyes blinked, and in that shift, he looked so emotionally overwhelmed that Harry wanted to hold him. Harry looked out at the sun again as it peeked up a little more, but an unfamiliar, unwanted sound interrupted _everything_. He looked over his shoulder to see cars driving by. One after the other. Fear engulfed him—what if someone could see him? Or, well, sure, even if his tail was out of view, what if someone… could see that below his waist wasn’t _pants_ , but scales?

“What’s wrong—Harry, look at me.” Louis cooed. Harry felt his hand brush against his arm. “What’s up? Is it the cars, don’t worry about them. Don’t let them ruin this thing for you.”

Harry couldn’t just forget it. He could see people getting out of their hotel rooms, too, for whatever reason he didn’t know. He was panicking over it all. Shaking his head regretfully, he looked back at Louis and pressed his lips together tightly. “I’m sorry, Lou, I—this…” he gestured out all around them and towards the rising sun. “I’m going to thank you for this forever, I’m going to remember this forever. And you’ve—you’ve got your wish, I swear it, but I’m…” his heart was drumming against his ribs in panic as he looked behind him again. Harry looked down below them where the waves crashed against the low cliff they were on.

“You’re leaving?” Louis asked, sounding like he was already about to plead for him not to. “It’s alright, they can’t see, they don’t know, they _won’t_ know—” Harry leaned into him and pressed a quick, chaste kiss to Louis’ cheek. Louis froze, peering at Harry as he smiled a smile that was just for them.

“Will I see you later?”

Louis swallowed, speaking frantically. “Yeah… yeah… s-same time as always, yeah. But Haz—you’re not going to dive from _here_ , are you? There are rocks underwater there, too, you’ll _die_.”

Harry’s chest rose, filled with admiration and shock of his spontaneous gesture. He looked out and nodded, glancing at Louis to give him a wink,  before stretching his arms out and using every muscle he had in himself, he lifted himself off of the edge of the cliff. His entire body flew in an arc before shooting down straight towards the water. Harry had never dove from such a high level before, either, and the air passing by him was cool against him, but he smiled as the water came closer and closer, and he disappeared right under it. The force of the fall was shifted before Harry could hit anything that could cause him hurt when he coaxed the water to still and wrap around him until the fall of his dive stopped.

Up above, Louis was looking for Harry, only seeing the white ring around where Harry had dove into. Harry looked up from underwater and could see his tiny silhouette looking down at him. Harry swam up and lifted his head and torso up above the water. He pulled his hair out of the way and smiled up at Louis, who clutched at his chest and sighed out in relief. Harry warmly laughed and pulled his fingers to his lips, kissing them and extending his hands out up to Louis, whose smile was as bright as the sun behind him.

“Louis!” Harry called, his hand at the side of his mouth.

That had Louis smiling even bigger. “Oi oi!” He yelled down at him. Harry giggled to himself. “Alright?”

“Alright, you? Didn’t mean to frighten you.” Louis shook his head at him. “Remember that tune you were whistling earlier?!”

“‘Course, yeah!”

“I want to hear more about it, sounded nice!”

With a wave, Harry dove back into the water, with his tail and fin lifting up in the air and following him back down as he headed back home.

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

Thank Poseidon for Niall Horan for distracting Liam Payne, and Liam Payne for keeping his mouth shut to his parents. Harry wanted to avoid every type of conversation regarding where he was for a whole night as much as he could. It had worked very well. Apparently, the tub of worms was put to good use for his two favorite guards. That was some good luck that he’d given it to Niall so he could bribe Liam. It had just all worked out in the end.

Now, Harry was asleep, peacefully and calmly with his tail curled up so his fin touched his head as he lay in his bivalve shell bed. He’d worn starfish earrings to bed. They were quiet for the most part, but they spoke gentle compliments endlessly to the wearer. They also served as lovely reminders—kind of like… alarm clocks and alerts. Their tiny squeaks roused Harry awake. “Wake up, little prince, wake up!” and it was afternoon. He uncoiled himself and stretched before he pressed his hands to the top of the shell and lifted it open.

He tended to his healthy, daily routine to take care of his tail and ran his fingers through his hair to make sure it was still just as smooth and untangled. He smiled when his fingers got stuck up against the hair clip and bobby pins, but that loosened their hold a little. So, Harry took them out and held them in his hand tightly before he swam out of the castle and snuck out once more from the merfolk kingdom.

He was swimming so freely and happily until Harry saw a large shark making his way towards the reef. That prompted Harry to kick through the water faster. The busy fish were going about their usual day without a care in the world as Harry hovered in the middle, biting his lip. “Great White!” Harry shouted, and the swarms of fish immediately grew frantic. Some managed to disappear into their hiding areas in crevices and nooks, others buried themselves under the sand, and others left entirely.

When Harry was entirely alone, he could feel the shark right behind him. He turned around with his head high and crossed his arms.

“Aw, come on!” The shark cried. An amused smile graced Harry’s lips. “Do ya want me to starve?”

“‘Course not, but there’ll be no murder while I’m in the presence of you all.” Harry told him. He reached out to the shark, who looked both infuriated and disappointed. His eyes settled in the direction the shark’s scales were going, and he carefully brushed his fingers in the same direction on him. “I do like visible peace.”

“So…”

Harry sighed and nodded. “So when I…” he directed his fingers behind him. “you can…” and at that, the great white’s mood seemed to lift completely. Harry gave the shark another quick pet. “But don’t come after me, you’d be killed, you know.”

“Of course, little prince, of course.”

Harry laughed before he carefully swam away, looking behind him at the shark, who was swimming lazily around the reef. Shaking his head, Harry zoomed forward, eager to get to Louis. He lifted his head from the water as he drew closer to the familiar rocks and grinned at the sight of Louis. He waved his arm in the air happily, and Louis waved back at him with his hand. He had something large up against his chest that hung over his neck. Whatever that was, Harry was excited to find out.

He lifted himself up onto the rocks beside Louis when he was close enough. A soft, calming sound was coming from the bulky thing Louis was holding. His fingers moved against strings that went across it, and Harry’s eyes widened as he looked down at it. “What’s that?” He asked. He was sure he'd seen it once or twice before, somewhere, but he'd never exactly given it much thought. 

“Guitar.” Louis let his fingers glide over the strings, and Harry felt mellower just from hearing it. Even when Louis’ finger lifted up off of the strings, the sound still continued until it faded off. Louis’ eyebrows raised as he smiled, seeming to like surprising Harry with as much human things as he could. “Hi, how are you?”

“Good, good… I like that…” Harry pointed at the guitar. “Guitar. Sounds lovely.”

Louis waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, you’ve heard nothing yet.” Harry rolled his eyes and brought his fist up in front of Louis’ face, just under his eyes, his fingers pointed down before he twisted his wrist so they pointed up. He uncurled his fingers to reveal the hair clip and bobby pins lying on his palm. Louis laughed out loud, his head falling back as he got it out of his system, and he took the hair pinning instruments from Harry’s hand, but ended up just covering his palm over Harry’s. “So dramatic with the reveal.”

Harry smirked and curled his fingers around Louis’ hand. Louis did the same, and they stayed like that for another moment before Louis pulled his back and shoved it into his pocket.

“Have you thought about your wish yet?” Harry asked him.

Louis made an unsure grunt, exaggeratedly breathing in with a stressed out sound before sighing heavily. He giggled and nodded over at him. “I have yeah. It’s just a matter of wording it. It’s gotta be… _right_ or else it won’t work. And if I’ve only got one shot at this, I definitely don’t want to screw it up because I worded it wrong.”

“I understand. I mean, take your time, you’ve got, like…” Harry blew out a thoughtful breath through pursed lips, his eyes squinting thoughtfully. “forever, really, I can wait.”

Louis beamed. “I guess in the meantime I can play you the song?” Harry nodded with a very light hum, his dimples popping out as he smiled. Louis laughed, crossing his legs and strumming the few first chords. Harry’s eyes widened, trying to pay attention to Louis’ sure, practiced fingers on the frets of the guitar and on the lower parts of the strings right over the hole. He didn’t even strum all of them sometimes, like it was very specific. “ _Hey, hey,_ ” Louis sang. Harry’s eyes lightened up at the voice he had come to admire. “ _Hey, hey_ —do you want to try to sing it, too, right after I do? Repeat what I say?”

Harry nodded shyly. The thing is, with how his people communicated to one another and to other fish, there wasn’t any possible way for them to sing unless, well, they spoke a human language. Even then, there wasn’t exactly any reason for them _to_ speak a human language. _Until now_ , Harry guessed. The trust he had for Louis was prominent in his gut. He could feel that he knew that if Louis was like this, that there could be other humans like him, too, that wouldn’t be so mean or dangerous to the concept of merfolk if they knew about them being real.

But for now, Louis was enough.

“ _When you’re on a holiday,_ now you.” Harry grimaced, shaking his head. He felt very conscious about himself. What if his voice didn’t sound as pretty and smooth as Louis’? “Oh, come on, Harry. Take a chance.” _Take a chance_. Harry twisted his mouth as he smiled a little before he nodded. Louis played and sang the same line again. Harry remembered humming along to the pitch of whatever Louis was whistling the first time he saw him, so… in a way, it had to be something like that, right?

And even with this small line that Louis had just sung, Harry recognized the tune from last night when he was being taught how to whistle.

His mouth opened and the words came out, rich and suave. Louis’ eyes softened immediately and Harry covered his mouth. “Was it that bad?” He asked, his voice muffled by his palm.

“No, no, it was really good—wow, you actually, actually? You have an amazing voice. Don’t you guys sing down there?” Harry shook his head. “Well, guess that’s one… stereotypical idea we have about you guys… except it’s not _all_ too wrong, either, too…” Louis chuckled, grabbing at Harry’s wrist gently and tugging his hand down. “I’m serious, you sounded really good. An absolute natural, even.”

Harry’s head perked up a little at his words. “Really?”

“Really, really.”

“Alright, then.” Harry nodded up at Louis’ guitar. “Keep going. Don’t know _why_ you stopped, ruins the entire… erm…” He snapped his fingers. “I don’t have a word for this. Momentum? I don’t know.” Louis snorted, laughing into his hand. “I hate this.” Harry shook his head at him. He looked over his shoulder at the busy beach, sighing softly. And to think it was so… all for _them_ last night… Harry couldn’t even wrap his mind around the fact that last night even happened, or that this _morning_ even happened. It all sounded like a dream.

“I know what you mean, so…” he started to strum again, looking at Harry with a smile that was whiter than the pearl that hung from Harry’s neck. “ _When you’re on a holiday_ … _you can’t find the words to say_. _All the things that come to you, and I wanna feel it, too_.” Louis nodded approvingly when Harry repeated the line. “You’ve got it, man, just like that.” and he continued, and they continued. Louis’ higher voice complimented Harry’s deeper one if they ever sang at the same time—once Harry realized that a chorus had the same _words_ all the time, it had happened, and it had brought them to endless giggles.

They smiled fondly at each other, shyly but sweetly, and Louis removed his guitar from around his neck. He set it down on his other side and sighed contently. They looked out in front of them, seeing the cliff that went on for a while on their side, extending out, and the waves crashing against it. Gulls flew over their heads in the sky, and Harry peered up at them. He loved these land creatures. Or, really, he supposed they were sky creatures. They were the first he’d ever seen in his life, and they were always around the beaches.

It was so calm, warm and fuzzy. Everything was so good. Even as they sat in silence, admiring the day around them, it was a very comfortable one, smiling to themselves and shaking their hair or scratching the back of their heads. It was just so good. Harry didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want his responsibilities to return and him not come up to the surface again for a while. His smile slowly faded at that thought.

“Louis?” Louis’ head snapped over to look at Harry. “I guess… you could say I’m on holiday.” He laughed softly, though bitterly. “But… but holidays end, so, like… I won’t be able to come surface so much anymore. Or, well, ever until I know I can, and I don’t know when that will be.” Even though Harry wasn’t looking at Louis, just straight ahead, he could _feel_ Louis’ shoulder slump. “So I guess… yeah, thank you for… for the purple sunrise. And the song. I’ll never forget it, and,” he turned his head towards a solemn looking Louis. Harry could feel his heart sink. “and it’s been a privilege to make your acquaintance.”

Louis’ eyes cast down. He smiled sadly before he licked his lips nervously. “Thought I was an exception to your formalities. ‘Acquaintance’, Jesus, Harry. Way to make me feel like I’m not so important.” He looked up at him through his long eyelashes, bittersweetness filling his sea eyes.

“You’re my new friend.” Harry told him, nodding gently. “Care about you. I hope you’ll be able to have fun adventures again soon. I know how much you want that for yourself.”

“And for you, too.” Louis added quickly. “Erm… I—I think I’m…” he paused, looking pensive, before he nodded surely. “Yes, I’m ready to make my wish now.”

Harry sat up straight, his tail swishing a little faster in anticipation. “Yeah?” He asked, reaching down to his tail.

“Yeah.” He smiled gently, his eyes soft. “Yeah, I am.”

Looking down, Harry could see his tail alight with its cool colors and its glowing shine. He twisted his mouth thoughtfully, his hand brushing along the scales before he saw one that reminded him of Louis’ eyes. It was where the green was lightest and the blue was beginning to blend in. He hooked the pad of his thumb underneath it, his index on the outer side of it, pinched, and pulled it off of his tail, a gasp and a pained hiss escaping Harry. His eyebrows furrowed at the painful sting and he pressed his free fist to his mouth.

“Harry! Why’d you do that?!” Louis asked, gaping. “Are you _mad_?”

Ignoring him, Harry lay the scale carefully against his open palm. “Think of your wish.” Harry told him.

“You’re bleeding—”

“I’ll be alright, it’s nothing, honestly.” Harry offered him a smile. “Really, close your eyes and think of your wish.”

Louis raised an eyebrow and Harry nodded encouragingly at him. Louis’ unsure glance down at the tiny beads of blood pooling out of where Harry had ripped off his scale had him looking worried. “Alright.” He said, turning so his body was facing Harry. He set his hands in his lap and his eyes fluttered closed. Harry, in turn, pulled the heel of his hand up against his lips and leaned in closer to Louis’ face. He sucked in a breath and pursed his lips before blowing gentle air just above the scale, towards Louis. It came out as a echoey whistle, and Louis’ serious composure nearly faltered into a tiny, confused smile, but the scale’s shiny iridescence lifted up and blew into Louis’ face, though when they touched his skin, they disappeared.

When the scale completely lifted up from his palm in little, glistening sparkles, Harry’s hand lowered and Louis still had his eyes closed. “You can open them now.” Harry said. Louis squeezed his eyes shut even tighter before opening them with slow, fluttery lashes.

“Where’s… your scale?”

“It’s in your heart.” Harry told him. Louis blinked and Harry laughed. “It’s the scales. The scales form into wishes when _my_ heart feels trust towards the one who helped them. Helping often forms trust. Not always, of course, but... “

“So if you didn’t trust me, I wouldn’t have been able to make a wish?”

Harry slyly winked. “We kind of leave that part out.”

“Cheeky, absolutely horrible.” They laughed again, but the sound was cut off when Louis’ phone rang. “Hang on…” he said, reaching into his pocket to answer it. Harry blinked, observing as Louis spoke into the phone. It made calls, just like Louis said. “Mum?” Louis said, smiling at Harry before looking away only with his eyes, listening. “Calm down, mum, you’re speaking too fast. Breathe,” he laughed, but it quieted quickly. His eyes shifted from amusement to surprise, looking taken aback, and he stared at Harry incredulously. “I-you’re joking. You’re absolutely _joking_.” His mouth fell open and his eyebrows raised.

Harry knit his brows together. “What happened?”

Louis ignored him, but still stared at Harry in complete shock. “That’s _amazing,_ mum. You’re not biting me leg off?” He asked, and Harry giggled into his hand when he said ‘me’ instead of ‘my’. “This is _so great_ , now—what’s this mean?! Are you going to… to, like, go be a vet with your best friend?” Harry could hear such an excited shouting coming from _the phone_. Whatever had happened was _good_. “ _Fantastic_!”

From his peripheral vision, Harry saw the faintest pale glow under him. He lowered his gaze from Louis and his eyes widened in fear. His tail was completely wrapped in the glow, the greens, blues, purples, and yellows disappearing as if the glow was engulfing them whole. Harry gasped, his hands shaking as he held the rocks to grasp _something_. “What the—” his heart was once again pounding quickly against him. He could hear the blood rushing through his ears furiously, and he gasped again when he saw his gills dissolving into the skin of his torso.

What was _happening_?! It wasn’t hurting at all, but that didn’t excuse the fact that what was occurring was terrifying. Louis had quieted, but Harry didn’t know until he felt Louis’ hand on his shoulder.

“Relax, I…” Harry looked over at him as he spoke, and Harry whimpered in his throat. “Oh, no, I should’ve told you what I wished for, damn it—”

“ _What did you wish for_?!” Harry shouted, and Louis covered his hands over Harry’s mouth—which didn’t stop Harry from screaming into it. Louis looked over at the beach behind them and sighed with relief.

Louis looked back at Harry  and opened his mouth to say something. Harry’s eyes were alight with an emerald fire at Louis. How _dare_ he trust him when he was probably _dying_ right now?! Instead of speaking, Louis looked down and a small smile graced his features. Harry wanted to flail and kick, so he used his muscles to swish his tail—whatever _tail_ he had left, anyway—but that didn’t happen.

“Will you calm down and _look_?” Louis asked, pulling his hands from Harry’s mouth.

Harry hadn’t even realized he was panting until Louis spoke. His panicked eyes softened and looked down at himself.

He wasn’t swishing his tail. He was kicking _his legs_. The green of his tail had turned into dark green swim shorts. Harry stared, his eyes feeling like they were falling out of their sockets. He willed his legs to stop, and move, kicking back against the rocks and forward, and he pulled them up, lifting one leg out in the air. He flexed his foot up and down, saw his toes wiggling, and Harry suddenly smiled so much that his face nearly ached. He laughed from the shock and brought his leg up, carefully bending it towards himself, and he bent the other leg up, too.

He looked over at Louis’ legs and looked down at his own, then did his best to mimic the same positioning they were in. A nervous giggle bubbled out of Harry. “Looks like the shape of a sting ray… the way I’m… s-sitting…” he whispered, and the thought made him laugh out loud so hard that he covered his mouth with his hands to stop his abrupt laugh. He gasped inwardly, as if the shock had returned, and he slowly pulled his hands down. “I have legs.”

Louis’ smile was full of such admiration, Harry saw, and he nodded at him, his hand resting on Harry’s shoulder. “That you do, yeah.”

“Am I… I—wait…” a new fear flowed through him. “Louis, what if I can’t go home now?”

“If you couldn’t, then I need a refund on my wish, don’t I?” Louis said. “Dip your toes in the water.” So Harry did, and the glow had returned. In moments, Harry’s tail and gills were back, and Louis’ eyebrows raised playfully at him. “See?”

Harry pulled his tail up with his arms so it lay on the rocks. He was genuinely stunned into absolute silence. He couldn’t even comprehend his own thoughts or feelings, but he knew that whatever they were, they weren’t at all bad. His tail turned back into legs, folded to his side, and Harry laughed shakily, overwhelmed. His toes flexed up and down. How could he have muscle memory of something so new to him? It was surreal, it shouldn’t be possible…

How could Louis do this to himself?

“Louis…” Harry whispered, looking over at him. His arm was still on his shoulder, and Harry placed his hand over Louis’. “What… why did you wish for this? Why did you waste it on me? I don’t understand.”

Louis chuckled and shook his head. “I didn’t blow it, Harry, I’d be an idiot if I did. Like I _said_ ,” he paused, and Harry leaned forward curiously, their noses almost touching. “I had to word it right. And anyways, _my_ wish came true all the same.”

“What? When?”

“Some… some big company bought the restaurant, offered _so much_ that it could set us for a while really well and mum can go work at what she wants to do. She couldn’t turn it down. I mean, _I_ wouldn’t have even turned it down. It was such a good offer. My wish was… for both of us to have our wishes always granted for as long as we needed them, _but_ to always go back if we needed to, as well.” Louis’ voice raised with such joy that Harry’s arms looped around him to pull him into a side hug. The hand on his shoulder slid around Harry’s back. Louis was so slim that Harry was able to wrap his arms around him more than he should. It was cozy against him.

It hit him, then.

“Wait,” he leaned away and looked at him. “That means…” He glanced down at the water. “no more fish killing?”

Louis laughed and nodded happily. “Yes, no more fish killing.”

“This is fantastic! I mean, all of it is, but I’m biased and care about my environment, so _that’s fantastic_!” Their laughs were endless, and Harry was sure that Louis even seemed lighter and hopeful, just by the way he easily laughed and smiled. Compared to when they properly met yesterday, it was definitely a shift.

“Now…” Louis began when he composed himself. “Let’s get you on your feet, yeah?” Harry nodded and Louis took his hands in his before he stood up. “Come up slow.” He told him, and Harry looked down at his feet. He lifted them up so that the bottoms of his feet could press against the rocks, and he shakily pushed off of them. “Whoa there!” Louis said, laughing softly when Harry almost fell backward. “Come here, step more in the middle—there you go. Feet flat on the ground, or as flat as you can. I know it’s not a flat surface… straighten your legs a bit more, stand tall.” Louis’ eyes trailed up Harry’s body when Harry did everything he said, despite still being wobbly.

The thing was… that it felt very nice to not have to hide the lower half of his body behind rocks from everyone. Now, if anyone on the beach happened to look over at them… it was normal. Harry smiled down at his pigeon toed feet. He still flexed his toes and giggled to himself every few moments. He was _standing_. Really, really standing. “Louis, I—holy _shit_ , Lou.” He said, looking up, but then found he had to look down a tad bit to meet Louis’ eyes.

“It’s not fair that you’re taller than me. Absolutely unfair. I’m starting to regret my wish.” Louis joked. Harry had an urge to pick him up. “But your happiness makes it all better. I forgive it.” Their eyes shined as they looked at each other. Louis glanced down. “Want to try taking a step—oh, hang on…” Louis let go of Harry’s hands and Harry gasped, the wobbliness in his legs heightening. He saw Louis bend down to pick his guitar up and carefully place it farther on the rocky pathway.

“Lou!” Harry grimaced, his hands flailing out as he tried to position his feet to keep from failing him, but he was falling. Louis gasped as Harry fell backwards towards the water before running back to him. Harry had accepted his fate as he fell, his eyes shutting tightly, but then his wrist was grabbed. He opened one eye slowly to see he was in a very perfect position to fall if Louis wasn’t holding him by the wrist.

With his other hand, Louis snapped his fingers, “Come on, other hand.” Harry reached forward to take Louis’ other hand, and Louis pulled Harry up. It was too fast, though, and Harry couldn’t balance himself back on the rocks. “Oh!” Before he knew it, they were both tumbling down, Harry on top of Louis, and Louis’ back meeting the rough rocks. Louis groaned, lifting his head up and reaching behind it to rub. “Ow…” He hissed lightly. “Alright, Haz?”

Harry held onto Louis’ hand still, squeezing for a moment. His face was on his chest, his hair sprawled around his head. He lifted his head up to look at Louis, and he’d never looked sweeter—even in pain. Harry’s eyes darted across Louis’ pained and worried face and he inched up. His free hand cradled the side of Louis’ neck and he brushed their lips together, chaste and soft. Shyly, Harry rested his chin on Louis’ chest, peering up at him.

Louis looked down at Harry and lifted his hands up to his sides. “Come back up here,” He whispered, and Harry’s eyes smiled as he attached his lips to Louis’ again. Louis slid his hands up to hold Harry’s face, kissing him back tenderly, their lips moving gently as they slid together. Harry felt like his heart could flutter away and fly into the sky. Or, well, no he most definitely _was_ flying. That was all, all the way up into the bright sun. That’s why he felt so warm inside and was melting into Louis.

Harry’s thumb brushed along the skin of Louis’ neck while Louis’ hands slid up his back, hooking onto his shoulders from under Harry’s arms, pressing firmer kisses to Harry’s lips. Harry giggled against Louis’ mouth and he ducked his head under his chin. Louis chuckled lowly as Harry lay on him, and he hugged Harry tightly. “Soft and sweet. Like you. I like you.” Harry hummed delightedly and kissed the scruff of Louis’ jaw. “Whenever you’re ready to walk—”

“I’m ready to run.” Harry said, sitting up on the back of his knees. Louis smirked, sitting up himself. “Really!”

“Don’t sit like that too long or your feet’ll fall asleep.” Louis told him. He got to his feet and offered his hands again. Harry bit his lip and tried to do it all on his own, standing up, without holding onto Louis. How was he going to run if he couldn’t even stand without falling on his ass? He pushed off of his feet, looking down at himself as he did so. “Look at you, you’ve got it.” Louis’ praise had Harry preening, humming happily again. He lifted his head and Louis walked backwards, his hands still out. “Slow and steady, just follow me.”

Harry pulled his hair behind his ears and removed the starfish from his lobes. He took careful steps forward as Louis bent down to grab his guitar and his backpack, hanging the guitar around his neck so that the guitar was up against his back. He reached into his backpack as he stepped backwards.

“I’ve got you something.”

Harry grinned. “You did?”

“Yeah, yeah, I er… hope, y’know, you like them. You seemed to like my shoes and you’re at the beach, so I’ve got you some…” he pulled out a pair of little boats. They were thin, black and green, and  with a band over where the toes would go. “Some adidas sandals, if you’d like ‘em for… for when you do come up here. I just wish I knew what your foot size was before I got them, so I kind of… I got them a couple size bigger than what I’d normally wear.”

Harry’s eyes bulged out, and he stepped forward quickly to Louis without thinking about it. He took them in his hands and felt the rubber of the insides, saw the “adidas” over the band with the three neon green bars. “Oh, Lou… I can… can wear these?”

“Your wish is to do just that, right?” Louis asked, taking them back. “Want me to put them on for you?” Harry nodded, his dry hair bouncing excitedly. Louis breathed out a laugh. “Alright, alright… lift up your foot, then, Cinderella.”

“Cinderella?” Harry questioned, raising his foot as Louis bent low, his bag at his own feet. He slipped the sandal over Harry’s foot.

“Something you don’t know, huh? Other foot, darling.” Harry’s heart skipped a beat at the pet name. He gave Louis his other foot and set his other one down, looking at it, twisting his ankle this way and that to see the pretty shoe at every angle he could. “Cinderella is a fairy tale of a maiden girl who goes to a royal ball, leaves at midnight and loses her glass shoe. The prince finds the shoe and vows to marry the maiden who fits the shoe, and eventually he does find her. Happily ever after.”

"Are you calling me a maiden?" Harry joked, trying to look as offended as he could.

"Of course not! I was just saying, y'know, shoe comparison sort of where..." Harry snorted. Louis lightly slapped Harry's calf muscle."Cheeky. Shut up, you know exactly what I meant." Louis smirked as he stood up before looking down and smiling. “How do they feel? They’re actually a pretty good fit, I’m impressed.”

“They’re…” Harry’s voice trailed off, his smile fading to be replaced by a look of astonishment. He bounced up on the balls of his feet and shifted his weight left and right, rocked back and forth—Louis had to steady him when he almost fell backwards again—and he giggled at how the rubber tickled his foot, but it was comfortable. “I love them, actually, they’re perfect. I love them.” He looked up at Louis, wanting to pull him into a hug for everything he did for him so far. His chest rose, breathing in the salty air and feeling his lungs swell with relief before he breathed out comfortably. “Thank you… so much. For everything.” He smiled and looked down at his hands. “I’ve… I’ve got something for you, too.”

“Do you? Those things you just pulled out of your ears? Is that a mermaid thing?” Louis joked. Harry jabbed a finger to the side of his ribs and Louis yelped with a small laugh. They continued to walk along the rocky pathway, towards the cliff, towards the sand.

“I didn’t pull them _out_ of my ear, they were resting on my earlobes. They can stick there. They’re… they’re like earrings. Starfish make lovely companions for you and accessories.” Louis snorted. “I wanted you to have mine.” He said, holding his hands out. Louis paused, taking them carefully in his hands. Their tiny arms moved happily. “They kind of suck up a lot but… they don’t lie, either.”

Louis smiled confusedly, but amusedly up at Harry before he nodded. “Right, alright, sure, let’s… okay.” he chuckled, lifting his hand up near his face and carefully handling one of the starfish. He pressed it to his earlobe and the starfish clung on easily. Harry smiled knowingly, raising an eyebrow, and after a few seconds, Louis’ eyebrows rose in surprise. His laughter rang throughout the beach, seeming to reach all the seven oceans. “Are they for—wow… these are going to give me a _big_ ego. Just called me handsome.” Louis stuck his nose up in the air.

“Like you didn’t know.”

“What about _you_? God, I bet everyone’s gagging for the prince of the Atlantic Ocean down there.” Louis stuck the other starfish to his other ear. “They say the same thing… at the same time, I love them. Do they have names?”

“Iridesa and Marina.” Harry told him. Louis let out a shocked laugh. He hopped down onto the sand once they reached the cliff wall. Harry paused and stared down at the tiny jump.

“You can just step down really careful, you know.” Louis told him. Harry sighed, but decided to jump. He pushed off his feet and they landed down onto the soft sand. He grinned from ear to ear, standing tall without faltering at all. “There you go, see? You’re getting the hang of it.” Harry puffed his chest out and bent his arms, walking rigidly, but proudly in front of Louis. Louis laughed, walking up on Harry’s right. “Come on, we don’t walk like that, you absolute loser.”

Harry laughed, too, shaking his hair out of the way. Louis quickly took the hair clip and bobby pins out of his pocket. “There you go—you can keep them if  you want.”

“What about your sisters?” Harry asked, taking the tiny clips. He gathered his hair up and pinned it back to the side out of his face.

“They have loads, it’s alright.” He set his bag and guitar down once they drew closer to everyone. Harry’s heartbeat quickened. He was… here. He was _really_ here… amongst the humans, looking like them, even. He breathed out shakily and Louis’ hand rubbed his back gently. “How about we try running?”

“Yes. Yes… yes, I’d love it.”

The first time, Harry tripped on his feet and fell into the soft sand. The second time, Louis had laughed so much he was clutching his stomach and falling on his bum because Harry seemed to be _galloping_. At this, Harry questioned what that even was, and Louis showed Harry a video of a horse galloping. With feigned annoyance, Harry turned away and started walking off because, for one, that didn’t look _anything_ like a seahorse, so how was that a _horse_ at all? And two, it was terribly insulting to say he was running like that. “I _never_ ,” Harry told him, sounding airy and pompous.

He really liked making Louis laugh. It was his new favorite sound. Louis had come after him, and Harry had hurried away, but in this, Harry correctly learned how to run. He ran from Louis and Louis chased him. He didn’t even mind how short lived it was. They weaved around set up camps on the beach, laughter trailing from them both and sand flying every time they picked up their feet to take another fast step. Harry’s hair flew back from the rush of running. The act of it was so relieving, like he was letting everything go and having so much _fun,_ completely _free_ and full of overwhelming joy.

Louis had caught him when Harry ran back to their camp—which was really just Louis’ bag and guitar—but it sent Harry falling down since Louis jumped up onto his back with his hands on Harry’s broad shoulders, and Harry had lost his balance. They rolled on the sand, endlessly laughing, and Louis scooted closer to him when they caught their breath. Harry’s heart thudded through his ears, pulsing against his temple, his neck, his _feet_ from the adrenaline and workout of _running_. The smile never left their faces as they simultaneously reached for each other and crashed their mouths together, moving against each other’s slowly, but surely. Louis’ lips were like tiny pillows cushioning against him, molding against his, between his.

When Harry pulled away, Louis’ hand held his face and his thumb brushed his cheek. He pecked Harry’s lips, drawing a giggle from Harry. “I quite like you a lot.”

“Me too…” Harry whispered, pursing his lips for a quick, chaste kiss. He smiled sadly, biting his lip as he looked at the man who had made the best night and day of his life a reality. “When I go home, erm… I was wondering, if, like, I could come see you again when I’m able. As soon as I’m able, even.”

Louis swallowed, but nodded. “Of course you can. I’d love that.”

“And maybe I can see more of your world, too!”

Louis eyes lowered sadly. “Yeah, of course.”

Harry’s smile disappeared slowly. Of course Harry couldn’t stay here, and Louis certainly couldn’t go into the water for hours at a time, either. Still, he didn’t want this to end up with them both being sad. Bittersweet was fine, but sad was not at all an option. Harry forbade it.”Hey,” he began, trying to lighten them both up. Louis’ eyes lifted up to meet his. “if you ever… find a way to come down into the ocean, will you come visit me, too?”

“Of course. You’d be the only reason I’d go that deep, too.” Louis laughed. He licked his lips and pressed them together as he looked at Harry. “But, you know… I know you… you belong there. And I…  I obviously belong here, so… I don’t know. We’ll see. But… at least you can come up here as you please _when_ you can. It’s not all for nothing... right?” His eyes searched Harry’s, hopeful. Harry nodded and hummed a soft, “Mm-hm.” and Louis leaned close to Harry, wrapping an arm around his middle. “You’re talking like you already have to go.”

Harry swallowed hard. “I think… I think I’m a little bit still nervous.” He confessed. “I think I’ve got to do this one step at a time—ha-ha.” Louis snorted, shaking his head at him. “I mean, during the nighttime’s fine. No one’s really here but… I feel like I’m a bit overwhelmed with wanting to do so much here and I feel like I already _did_ a lot already. You’ve been so good to me, Lou. I don’t know how I could ever thank you.” He pressed a lingering kiss to Louis’ forehead and Louis closed his eyes. “My mother actually cut my holiday a bit short. I am, after all, a son learning his trade. And it’s a big trade at that, becoming king. It’s out of my hands… and I don’t want my guards to get into any trouble if my parents ever find out they’ve been covering for me.”

“Thanking me is enough. I’m glad to help.” Louis’ voice was soft and light, full of affection. “I’ll always be here to help. But… yeah, if you’ve got to go, or feel you should…” He shrugged against the sand. “Who am I to say you’re wrong? I trust you. And I’m… I’m so happy I made you happy for a day and a half.”

“You’ve made me happy for three days and a half. Four days. Five days. All of my days, Lou, nothing… compares… after this. Nothing’s going to possibly top this.” Louis smiled bashfully. Harry sat up and got to his feet. “I can take these little boats then?” He asked, pointing down at his sandals. Louis laughed out loud, covering his mouth for a moment.

“Of course, silly. They’re yours.” He got up as well, fixing his shirt and shaking his hair from any sand that had gotten into it. Harry grinned, all dimply and eyes alight before he headed down to the shore. He quickly took his new sandals off and held them in one hand. When the waves touched his feet, the subtle glow rose from his toes all the way to his waist. Harry stepped more into the water, the glow illuminating the water beneath him. Louis stepped up, too, but stayed just above where the waves ended and the dry sand started. Harry’s tail and gills made a reappearance, and Harry let out a laugh.

He _could_ return. That’s what mattered. Harry inched deeper in the water, but still kept his upper body above water. He turned to face Louis and smiled over at him. “If you ever need to call me, Iridesa and Marina can call dolphins! They can come get me and I’ll… I’ll try to get to you. Or send me a message in a bottle, I’ll probably find it.”

Louis giggled, nodding at him. “Can we ride dolphins next time I see you? I’ve always liked the idea of it!”

“Definitely! It’s a promise!” Harry told him. “Will you wait for that day I resurface to see you?!”

“Of course! It’s a promise!”

Harry laughed, lowering himself into the water and swimming impossibly farther from the shore before stopping. He grinned at the sight before him and he rose up above the water. His eyes looked around until they settled on Louis still standing where he had been, his hands in his pockets. Harry saw Louis smile again and wave at him, and Harry returned the wave. “Louis!” Harry shouted, and was greeted by a couple of splashes from behind him.

“Oi oi!” Louis shouted back, and his eyes widened at the two dolphins jumping behind Harry. Harry smiled softly before blowing a kiss to him. Louis reached to grab it, then nodded surely at him. Harry nodded, too, swelling with that bittersweet feeling he had tried to accomplish having.

This was all okay. He would see Louis again, in this world or another, on land or underwater. Either way, Harry couldn’t wait already, and he dove into the ocean with a smile on his gracious face that lasted for days.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for looking! I appreciate comments and kudos a _lot_. This is the first of I'm thinking... six stories. Alright, yes, I hope you guys liked it!


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